The Shores of Tripoli
James L. Haley

Lieutenant Putnam and the Barbary Pirates

Bliven Putnam Naval Adventure #1
G.P. Putnam's Sons
November 2016
On Sale: November 1, 2016
464 pages
ISBN: 039917110X
EAN: 9780399171109
Kindle: B01COJUFF4
Hardcover / e-Book
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Historical

The first novel in award-winning historian James L. Haley's brilliant adventure series featuring young midshipman Bliven Putnam as he begins his naval service aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise.

It is 1801 and President Thomas Jefferson has assembled a deep-water navy to fight the growing threat of piracy, as American civilians are regularly kidnapped by Islamist brigands and held for ransom, enslaved, or killed, all at their captors' whim. The Berber States of North Africa, especially Tripoli, claimed their faith gave them the right to pillage anyone who did not submit to their religion.

Young Bliven Putnam, great-nephew of Revolutionary War hero Israel Putnam, is bound for the Mediterranean and a desperate battle with the pirate ship Tripoli. He later returns under legendary Commodore Edward Preble on the Constitution, and marches across the Libyan desert with General Eaton to assault Derna—discovering the lessons he learns about war, and life, are not what he expected.

Rich with historical detail and cracking with high-wire action, The Shores of Tripoli brings this amazing period in American history to life with brilliant clarity.