Six Frigates
The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy
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4.6 • 257 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
"A fluent, intelligent history...give[s] the reader a feel for the human quirks and harsh demands of life at sea."—New York Times Book Review
Before the ink was dry on the U.S. Constitution, the establishment of a permanent military became the most divisive issue facing the new government. The founders—particularly Jefferson, Madison, and Adams—debated fiercely. Would a standing army be the thin end of dictatorship? Would a navy protect from pirates or drain the treasury and provoke hostility? Britain alone had hundreds of powerful warships.
From the decision to build six heavy frigates, through the cliff-hanger campaign against Tripoli, to the war that shook the world in 1812, Ian W. Toll tells this grand tale with the political insight of Founding Brothers and the narrative flair of Patrick O'Brian.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Toll, a former financial analyst and political speechwriter, makes an auspicious debut with this rousing, exhaustively researched history of the founding of the U.S. Navy. The author chronicles the late 18th- and early 19th-century process of building a fleet that could project American power beyond her shores. The ragtag Continental Navy created during the Revolution was promptly dismantled after the war, and it wasn't until 1794 in the face of threats to U.S. shipping from England, France and the Barbary states of North Africa that Congress authorized the construction of six frigates and laid the foundation for a permanent navy. A cabinet-level Department of the Navy followed in 1798. The fledgling navy quickly proved its worth in the Quasi War against France in the Caribbean, the Tripolitan War with Tripoli and the War of 1812 against the English. In holding its own against the British, the U.S. fleet broke the British navy's "sacred spell of invincibility," sparked a "new enthusiasm for naval power" in the U.S. and marked the maturation of the American navy. Toll provides perspective by seamlessly incorporating the era's political and diplomatic history into his superlative single-volume narrative a must-read for fans of naval history and the early American Republic.
Customer Reviews
As a navy vet
This book was extremely well researched and avoid of much bias as possible from someone writing from 200 years in the future. It was fair to the failings of both American and British sailors and the acknowledgment that the lag in communication led to a bunch of misunderstandings in early American and British relations. 10/10 probably the most accurate account of the early navy I’ve ever read while also being engaging. Reads more like a novel than a historical account. Hooya!
Terrific!
Well written, super informative and entertaining. Well done!
After reading O’Brian, this was a fascinating book
I have read series after series about the exploits of the British Navy during the Nepoleanic wars. To learn what was going on in the US was truly fascinating.
I was worried that switching to Non-Fiction would be a challenge. But no, this was a book that I couldn’t pit down.