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 enlarge | Author: Joshua E. London
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $13.37
You Save: $11.58 (46%)
New (26) Used (16) from $9.84
Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 177246
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 5.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 0471444154
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.47
EAN: 9780471444152
ASIN: 0471444154
Publication Date: September 9, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New, never read, may have minor wear from being on a retail store shelf.
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-10 of 10 | | « PREV | | |
 Fascinating story marred by amateurish writing June 11, 2007
Pained (Arlington, VA)
5 out of 13 found this review helpful
While the history of a young America's naval adventures in the Mediterranean is clearly a fascinating one (and largely unknown, at least to me) it is done a terrible disservice by author Joshua E. London.
As much respect as I have for what appears to be his painstaking research in pulling together the events and happenings of those days, and placing them in the proper historical context, the telling of the tale suffers from his pedestrian, high-school text book writing style of the sort in which "this happened, then this happened, then this happened."
You need look no further for an example of the decline of the once-valued craft of book editing.
Poorly written and, overall, very disappointing May 29, 2007
Paul (Redondo Beach, CA)
8 out of 17 found this review helpful
I'd been waiting to read this book for a long time, ever since I'd read London's brief piece "America's Earliest Terrorists: Lessons from America's first war against Islamic terror" -- obviously drawn from this book -- at National Review Online. (Google on "Joshua London" and "National Review Online" and you'll find it.) While I highly recommend that brief National Review Online article, anyone with the same motive as mine is probably going to be disappointed with the book.
Instead of fleshing out the points about the heritage of Islamic terror (how it's part of mainstream Islam and far antedates American involvement in the mideast and the existence of Israel), the book says hardly more on this subject than the brief article I cite.
Plus, reading the book was like having a stick poked in my eye, because the writing is so bad. (I'm not sure what book these other commenters reviewed!) Best to give some examples (and please remember, I **wanted** to like the book):
* On pages 16 and 17, Bernard Lewis is introduced **twice** (as "the historian Bernard Lewis")
* On page 41, the USS Chesapeake is introduced in one sentence as a "forty-four-gun frigate" and in the next sentence as a "thirty-six-gun frigate."
* Prominent character James Leander Cathcart is introduced on page 54, quasi-introduced again on page 56, and effectively introduced **again** (including his middle name) on page 109.
* On page 108, whle detailing the lineage of one of Jefferson's naval appointments, Captain Richard Valentine Morris, author London mentions one of Morris's uncles, "Governor Morris." He means, of course, **Gouverneur** Morris.
* Another howler is this passage from page 117: " ... but stormy whether forced them to the Bay of Tunis. They arrived on February 22, 1803. Their arrival had little affect on the Tunisians ..." [precise transcription]
There's lots more where those came from. But maybe those seem too picayune for you to agree that the quality of thought that went into writing the book leaves something to be desired? There's bigger stuff, too.
For example, after awhile, I was dying to see a map that would give the relative placement of Tangiers, Algiers, Tripoli, Tunis, Malta, and Syracuse, among other ports of call. Then I discovered there **is** a map among the clutch of illustrations near the center of the book, but labels on it smaller than "Mediterranean" are too blurry to read.
The welter of individuals' names really calls for a "dramatis personae" at the start of the book, so one has a hope of keeping track of the characters. Go fish!
And the description of all the comings and goings of various ships and people doesn't add up to anything useful. It's similar to reading an airline's schedules for entertainment.
In short, the book reads like a first draft, or perhaps even a zeroth draft. The author acknowledges two editors at Wiley, but it's hard to believe either had more than a nodding acquaintance with the book. At least a couple hundred hours of [additional?] editing would be needed to whip this mess into shape.
So I give it two stars because it **does** contain interesting material that could be the basis for a vastly better book (and one star would suggest I have an axe to grind on the subject of the book) . Very disappointing.
 Perfect for history classes October 15, 2006
Edward P. Mcnamara (Chicago)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Overall an excellent and exciting read. I hope someone makes a 6 hour movie from Joshua London's book. At some points however, I felt that he was quite repetitious, repeating almost verbatim points and quotes from chapter to chapter. But I think this actually makes it ideal for copying a chapter or two and using it as classroom materials as each chapter is almost a self-contained story in itself. I would recommend that anyone read the whole book though, it is just wonderful. I ended up reading it again outloud to my girlfriend, doing my best Eaton and Bobba Mustafa impressions!
Sidenote: Last night, while re-reading Chapter two, Ensnared in Barbary, in which the birth of the United States Navy is gone over in some detail, we realized it was the 231st birthday of the Navy - October 13th. Needless to say it gave the anniversary added significance.
"Victory in Tripoli" July 12, 2006
R. Speir (Virginia)
8 out of 19 found this review helpful
Truly a great historic book of war, politics and intrigue in a much simpler time. Many reviewers have noted that this book has a modern parallel in the developed nations' "war on (muslim) terrorists" led by the United States. I disagree. Only the problem was similar, not the outcome. Maybe in 200 years some thoughtful author will write a book on how our founding fathers got it right, and the Bush Admnistration screwed it up so badly. Come to think about it, why wait 200 years.
Brilliant! July 5, 2006
William Daroff (Washington, DC USA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Excellent historical work of art. Gives breadth and dimension to a critcial period of our history. Many lessons still relevant in today's war against terror.
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