Who would have expected a Texan historian to write an exciting naval trilogy about the America war with Barbary pirates? In The Shores of Tripoli (#641) James L. Haley has given us Lieutenant Bliven Putnam to put on our shelves along with our Horatio Hornblower novels. When he is first introduced to us, Lt. Putnam is still a midshipman aboard the USS Enterprise. At age fourteen, he has met the conditions his father had set to leave the farm in Litchfield, Connecticut to go to sea. His first assignment takes him to the Mediterranean to protect American shipping from the raiders of the Barbary States, who deem it their right to capture and enslave any Christian infidels, or to hold the wealthy ones to ransom. Putnam sees action in his first engagement at sea which will set the course for his naval career.
Politics plays a much larger role in the navy than Putnam would like to believe, as President Jefferson and the Congress squabble and make treaties with the individual Barbary States which undo the victories which his commander has won, and makes heroes out of those who have blundered badly. By the end of the first volume Bliven Putnam is giving serious consideration to whether he should remain in the nascent navy, or resign his commission.
This story has a bit of everything to keep the reader glued to the pages: page-turning action sequences, political back-biting, romance, and a hero with a strong moral compass to match his interest in the outside world. James Haley spoke at the 2017 BookMania!, and he stressed his desire to make the story as historically accurate as possible - to thread the fictitious Putnam and his friends through the existing canvas of historical events - with enough leeway to make it a can't-put-down story. I look forward eagerly to his next adventure!
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