Featured Company:

Jefferson's War: America's First War on Terror 1801-1805

Today's shopping tips: "Be wise in purchasing ..... find best value one"

---

Manufacturer: PublicAffairs
List Price: $18.95
Our Price: $10.60
You Save: $ 8.35 ( 44% )
(prices subject to change)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Average Ratings:

Author Joseph Wheelan has marvelously captured the story of America’s war against the Barbary pirates, our first war against terror and the nations that supported it. Two centuries ago, without congressional or public debate, the ostensibly pacifist President Thomas Jefferson launched America’s first war on foreign soil. The Barbary pirates, a Muslim enemy from Tripoli, attacked European and American merchant shipping with impunity. With telling illustrations, Jefferson’s War traces the events surrounding the evolution of the third president’s resolute belief that peace with the Barbary States, and respect from Europe, could be achieved only through the "medium of war." Jefferson ordered the U.S. Navy to Tripoli in 1801 to repel "force with force." The Barbary War was also a proving ground for such young officers as William Bainbridge, Stephen Decatur, Isaac Hull, and David Porter—key players in the impending War of 1812 against Great Britain. Readers who enjoy military and naval history, presidential biographies and accounts of the early American republic, will find that Joseph Wheelan’s spirited narrative of Jefferson’s war provides an important new perspective on America’s struggles with terror—then and now.


DESCRIPTION:

Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN: 9780786714049
ISBN: 0786714042
Label: PublicAffairs
Manufacturer: PublicAffairs
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: 2004-09-20
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Studio: PublicAffairs


SIMILAR ITEMS:

• The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805
• To the Shores of Tripoli: The Birth of the U.S. Navy and Marines (Bluejacket Books)
• Wars of the Barbary Pirates: To the shores of Tripoli: the birth of the US Navy and Marines (Essential Histories)
• Victory in Tripoli: How America's War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation
• The End of Barbary Terror: America's 1815 War against the Pirates of North Africa


CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Customer Rating:
Summary: The navy coming of age
Comment: On the surface, the Tripolitan wars seem to be a close parallel to Bush's "War on Terror". Terrorist Arab 'quasi-states' are terrorizing the transportation sector. European appeasement of the terrorists provides nothing more than a brief respite. After one group serious wrongs America, the president sends a force to fight the terrorists. The initial public support starts to waver as the fighting drags on. However, with a final big show of force, Americans are able to "beat" one "warload" and leading the others to fall in line, providing a true peace that years of negotiations could not provide.
The detailed account of the Tripolitan war in this book helps to show the key differences under the surface. The Barbary pirates were operating in a well-established manner, adjacent to standard diplomacy. The prime goal was money rather than religion or ideology. The Tripolitan war was also drawn out primarily due to American bumbling (due to mistakes, incompetence, and lack of forces.)
This book, despite its subtitle, is an objective history of the Barbary wars, with little attempt to draw parallels to the present. It brings in clear understanding of the "shores of Tripoli" line of the Marine Hymn, and brings early Naval and Marine heroes in to their historical context. It makes clear that the United States of the time was an infant nation, still trying to find itself.
The narrative is pretty well done, though at times seems to jump around. Overall it is worth the read.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Intriguing Record of a (Mostly) Forgotten War
Comment: First, let me say that I really enjoyed this book. I knew very little about the subject matter going in, but I could barely put it down. I have studied this period of history for years but have always found that most histories mention the "issues" with the Barbary Coast only in passing. It was nice to read a well-written book dedicated to the subject. The only real problem I have with the book is that the author tried too hard to draw parallels between the Barbary Coast War and the current "War on Terror". This is only a minor complaint and the book does not suffer too badly as a result.

The highlight of the book, for me, was the insight into the young United States navy. I enjoyed the profiles of officers such as Stephen Decatur Jr., William Bainbridge, Presley O'Bannon, and Edward Preble. In addition, the exploits of William Eaton, United States Consul General to the City of Tunis, were particularly fascinating.

I recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn more about the infancy of the United States Navy as well as America's first foreign war.

Customer Rating:
Summary: A little bit dry
Comment: This book just never seemed to get going for me and the writing style a little bit dry.

Customer Rating:
Summary: A competent and detailed account of a largely forgotten war
Comment:
This book competently highlights "America's first global war on terror." It is the fascinating story of America's early interaction and conflict with the Barbary states in North Africa. It is a complex story that contains the whole range of diplomacy and war; courage and cowardice; brilliance and incompetence. A brief synopsis of the events covered can be found in the publisher's blurb above, and need not be repeated here. This review will serve mainly to highlight strengths and weakness of the work. The author tells the story very well but perhaps with a few too many tangents and largely irrelevant details and stories as well as the rather annoying habit of making somewhat forced comparisons between the situation at the start of the 1800s and today.

First the author has a lovely narrative flow that is perhaps necessarily hindered by a superabundance of names and places. This may well be the nature of the beast as there were four Barbary States, each with its own Deii, Bey, Pasha, Sultan, or Emperor let alone the other regional powers which will include many that the layman may find unfamiliar. Unless you have previously studied the Napoleonic Mediterranean, you may find it useful to keep a small cheat-sheet on your bookmark and a small map handy. However, this is not a serious hindrance to the serious reader.

More annoying is the author's tendency to "period hop." That is to say that he has decided to structure his work only in the most loose chronological format. Mostly he wants to follow people and places. At times this makes for a disjointed narrative. Additionally, and perhaps because of this, he also has a tendency to repeat himself. At times one can be grateful for the reminder, while at others it is annoying and slightly insulting.

Another problem with the narrative is the author's desire to tell you EVERYTHING about many of the main players. For example, in tracking the unhappy life of a US Marine officer after the events at the heart of the book he consumes a surprising number of pages when most readers would be satisfied with a simple "he became increasingly embittered and died in near disgrace." A fair bit of judicial "skimming" is indicated here.

The final issue I have with this generally good book is the Author's desire to make comparisons to the current Global War on Terror. In many cases, the comparisons are worthy and real, however, in the vast majority they are either: 1) Obvious, eliciting a "Duhhh, I could see that myself before the blinding flash of the obvious" response; 2) needling and insignificant or 3) rather forced. In a well written history, the comparisons to modern times should be self evident to the reasonably educated reader. Pointing them out seems akin to having to explain the punch line of a joke, either unnecessary or simply pointing out the inadequacy of the joke.

All that said, these are relatively minor criticisms of a well researched book. It is a very comprehensive coverage of America's first major foreign adventure and first war against an Islamic power. This is probably one of the three books I would recommend for anyone making a study of the Early US Navy and foreign policy. The other two, FYI are Barbara Tuchman's "The First Salute" and a book of the first few naval wars in American History entitled "Six Frigates".

Jefferson's War is a comprehensive and interesting account full of detail (although sometimes too much detail) of America's first "war on terror" from the halls of Washington to the Shores of Tripoli.


Customer Rating:
Summary: Readable account of America trying (literally) to get its sea legs
Comment: Joseph Wheelan tackles the story of America fighting (occasionally) a war in the early 19th Century against Tripoli for its habit of attacking U.S. shipping in the Mediterranean, taking the ships for its own, and making slaves out of the crews - your basic piracy.

The writing itself is fairly average, but the book is worth reading for a couple of reasons. First, it's fascinating to focus in on a time when the U.S. was not the biggest kid on the block and didn't have its military house in order. Two thirds of the time, there was little to nothing you could point to with pride as an American. Three of the four U.S. Naval commanders over the course of the war seemed to take the assignment more as an Italian holiday than as a war.

Second, it's wonderful to learn about the individuals who did step up and begin to form the framework of a Navy that would hold its own quite admirably just a few years later against the British Navy in the War of 1812. The historic gems in the book are great, too. The 14 towns of Decatur in the U.S. are named after a naval hero from this war and the first ever U.S. military force to land on foreign soil did so in this war (Shores of Tripoli ring any bells?).

Overall, this one is worth a read for any fan of history.

---

NOTE: All online transactions are processed at Amazon.com's secure server, using the latest technology on internet's secure transactions.
| Blocks | Building Sets | Model Toys | Puzzles | Figures & Playsets | Toys by Age Ranges |