Suz Reviews: Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy

8.06.2009

Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy

by Ian W. Toll, 467pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: A

Solid A, this one. Not only does it cover the history of tall ships (which I love), but the prose is utterly readable, the sections are short. And who could not love an author that quotes not one, but TWO, passages from Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series!
Yes, so this book covers the history of the founding of the U.S. Navy. The Continental Navy is briefly mentioned, but since it was mostly privateers and not actually the national navy (since there wasn't a nation yet), it is quickly skipped over. The main conflicts of interest are the debacle in the Mediterranean with Barbary pirates (Tripoli, Algiers, etc.) in the first decade of the 1800's followed by the War of 1812, where we fought Great Britain in a spastic start-stop American fashion... and somehow both sides considered themselves the winner.

Labels: genre: historical, genre: non-fiction, media: book

# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 5:03 PM

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Suz Reviews

8.06.2009

Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy

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