The first book ever written on the fledgling American nation's diplomatic and naval campaign in 1812 to break the Barbary pirates, rogue states of North Africa.
Drawing upon numerous ship logs, journals, love letters, and government documents, Leiner paints a vivid picture of the world of naval officers and diplomats in the early 19th century, as he recreates a remarkable and little known episode from the early American republic.
"Frederick Leiner has taken an almost forgotten moment in early U.S. history--the 1812 capture by Algerines of an obscure Yankee sailing brig--and by focusing exclusively on that incident and the events deriving from it has woven a remarkably complex yet totally coherent tapestry of the times. There are heroes and villains galore, mysterious secret agents and conniving heads of state; there are wars and other international crises, numerous historical set pieces and acts of derring-do. All told, there's enough spectacle and drama to satisfy any reader."--James Tertius de Kay, author of A Rage for Glory: The Life of Commodore Stephen Decatur, USN
