Title: The pirate coast
First published: 2005
Description: During the age of Napoleon and Lord Nelson, there was an American sideshow, a "covert op" sanctioned by Thomas Jefferson, to try to help stop the Barbary Pirates of North Africa who were hijacking American ships and selling the passengers into slavery.  In this compelling historical narrative, author Richard Zacks follows a fanatical American, William Eaton, on his secret mission to overthrow the government of Tripoli in 1805.  For Eaton, a disgraced diplomat on the verge of financial ruin, it was a chance to defy the Barbary Pirates, end humiliating tribute payments and restore national honor.  But Jefferson, at the last moment, grew wary of "intermeddling in a foreign government" and he sent Eaton off without money, troops, supplies, and letters of recommendation or even clear orders.  Against insane odds, Eaton recruited a band of European mercenaries in Alexandria and led them along with some Arab cavalry and Bedouin fighters on a march across the Libyan Desert to capture the second largest city of Tripoli, only to be subverted when Jefferson arranged a negotiated peace.
Subjects: Pirates, United States Tripolitan War, 1801-1805, Underground movements, Nonfiction, Naval operations, History, Jefferson, thomas, 1743-1826, United states, history, tripolitan war, 1801-1805, United states, history, naval, Naval Military operations, Tripolitan War (United States : 1801-1805) fast (OCoLC)fst01355170, Tripolitan war (1801-1805), Geheimkrieg, Geschichte 1805, War Underground movements, Amerikanisch-tripolitanischer Krieg, Undergraound movements
Places: North Africa, United States
People: Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), William Eaton (1764-1811)
Time periods: 19th century, Tripolitan War, 1801-1805
LC classification: E335 .Z33 2005