num_pages: 560
description: How "a handful of bastards and outlaws fighting under a piece of striped bunting" humbled the omnipotent British Navy.Before the ink was dry on the U.S. Constitution, the establishment of a permanent military had become the most divisive issue facing the new government. Would a standing army be the thin end of dictatorship? Would a navy protect American commerce against the Mediterranean pirates, or drain the treasury and provoke hostilities with the great powers? The foundersparticularly Jefferson, Madison, and Adamsdebated these questions fiercely and switched sides more than once. How much of a navy would suffice? Britain alone had hundreds of powerful warships.From the decision to build six heavy frigates, through the cliffhanger 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 a narrative flair worthy of Patrick O'Brian. According to Henry Adams, the 1812 encounter between USS Constitution and HMS Guerriere "raised the United States in one half hour to the rank of a first class power in the world." 16 pages of illustrations; 8 pages of color.
language: English
title: Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U. S. Navy
titlecomplete: Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U. S. Navy
genres: Audiobook, Maritime, Military Fiction, American History, Naval History, War, Nonfiction, American Revolution, History, Military History
ratings_count: 6674
awards: awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Colby Award
publisher: W. W. Norton & Company