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Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | 973.47 WHI | Searching... Unknown |
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Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
For centuries, Barbary Coast pirates had been terrorizing merchant shippers and forcing their governments to pay tribute--until the frigate Philadelphia was captured in 1803 and President Thomas Jefferson decided to put an end to the extortion. Whipple ( The Challenge ) shows how the Barbary War in the early 19th century included the first major challenge to U.S. foreign policy, America's first hostage crisis and the first subversive plot to overthrow the head of an unfriendly government (the war also served as the first proving ground of the U.S. Navy and Marines). Jefferson sent four successive naval squadrons against Tripoli. All failed to gain the release of the Philadelphia 's crew. Finally, an Army captain named William Eaton (``one of the lost heroes of U.S. history'') led a handful of Marines and a polyglot mercenary mob on a 500-mile epic journey across the Libyan desert. Their capture of the city of Derna led indirectly to the release of the prisoners and a treaty (1805), but did not end the threat of piracy to U.S. shipping. Whipple's vigorous you-are-there style brings to life all the color and drama of this neglected period in American history. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
America's first hostage crises date back to its formative years, when Muslim pirates operating out of city-state ports along North Africa's Barbary Coast preyed on its merchant vessels in the Mediterranean. Here, with considerable analytic flair, Whipple (The Challenge, 1987) sorts out Washington's often irresolute response to these seizures and the incarceration of US sailors. In his engrossing narrative (which neither ignores nor belabors obvious parallels to latter-day events in the Middle East), the author skillfully combines vivid accounts of derring-do with shrewd appraisals of contemporary politics and diplomacy. Among other events, the many-splendored story line encompasses the first US attempt to overthrow the head of a hostile government (the bashaw of Tripoli), plus America's initial effort to isolate another nation via blockade--and bombardment. Covered as well are our nation's earliest debates on defense budgets, foreign intervention, the President's war-making powers, and allied issues that have proved nothing if not perdurable. In addition to the satisfyingly treacherous villains, the plot features a great many authentic American heroes and more than a few shady middlemen offering to swap arms for captives. Standouts in the white-hat ranks include Edward Preble (a quarter-deck tyrant who commanded the first US Navy forces to go into battle), Stephen Decatur (then a junior officer of notable boldness), and William Eaton. As a self-styled general, Eaton led a rabble of Arabs, Christians, and eight US Marines out of Egypt across the Libyan desert to free the 307-man crew of an American warship captured by the Tripolitans. How legates with their own agendas cheated him (and the US) of a hard-won victory at the 11th hour makes a fascinating and cautionary tale. Americana at its rousing and resonant best.
Booklist Review
This work by a distinguished maritime historian is likely to surpass Glenn Tucker's Dawn like Thunder as the standard history of the Barbary War of 1804. Whipple provides a balanced, thoroughly researched, and highly readable story of the first American foreign war and first major campaign of the U.S. Navy. He also provides the fullest account of William Eaton's adventurous overland expedition. The bibliography and notes make the book especially valuable to serious scholars. Highly recommended for the majority of American or naval history collections. ~--Roland Green
