Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I saw the author give a lecture on this book last week at the Navy Museum in the Washington Navy Yard here in DC, and was impressed enough to buy the book and get it autographed - his handwriting is terrible. Fortunately, he speaks very well and is engaging, insightful and entertaining. I began reading the book that evening, and finished it within a couple of days (it is a fairly quick read). Thankfully, he writes as well as he speaks.
"Victory in Tripoli" is an amazingly good and compact book! History just dances off its pages. Strikingly, the author runs us through America's complex and confused diplomatic efforts in North Africa back then with some terrific detail and really admirable clarity and pacing.
There are many lessons to be had from this rich and worthwhile book. Here are just a few I teased out for myself.
One of the big things that I took away from this book is that our interaction with the Arabs hasn't changed all that much in 200 years. The same can be said for the behavior and attitudes of the Arabs towards us. Another big lesson I took from this book is that winning is important, there really is no substitute for victory. Clearly, there are times when one simply has to win to achieve peace, rather than endeavor to negotiate away "grievances" or "misunderstandings." Another big lesson for me from all this is that the religious dimension in the Middle East is substantive, and sometimes trumps more mundane interests like money and politics.
Another lesson I teased out of the book is that U.S. foreign policy is at its best when it sticks to its moral and philosophical principles and at its worst when it sacrifices these for realpolitik or in the name of political expediency. Another lesson that seems clear to me is that the United States is a fundamentally different sort of Nation, in virtually every worthwhile respect, from the nations of (Old World) Europe, and that America is at its best on the world's stage when it forges its own path, on its own terms.
Another aspect of this book that is worth mentioning is that the author does a most skillful job of painting clear, dramatic, and meaningful portraits of some of the key figures in this history. These include Thomas Jefferson, Pasha Yusuf Qaramanli and his brother Ahmad, William Eaton, Richard O'Brien, James Cathcart, Capt. William Bainbridge, Commodore Edward Preble, Captain Stephen Decatur, Jr., Marine Lt. Presley Neville O'Bannon, and several others.
Also, the action sequences are brisk and wonderfully handled. And throughout the writing style is clear, intelligent, and almost completely unobtrusive. In most every respect, "Victory in Tripoli" is a real pleasure to read.
My only "complaints" with this book are that (1) I would have preferred a clearer and more detailed map of the region and the principle harbors, and (2) I would have liked a little more detail on the French decision to invade Algiers in 1830 (this is obviously outside the scope of the author's focus, but a little more detail would still have been welcome). Also, (3) I would have liked some photographs of the USS Constitution that the author said in his lecture was still afloat and, I think, open for visitors in Boston. Finally, (4) I would have liked there to be a bit more detail on some of the other Marines involved in Eaton's march across the desert. None of these are serious problems, and I only thought of them while sitting down to write this, but I think it would have made the book even better.
As it stands, Mr. Joshua E. London has given us a wonderful history of America's wars with the Barbary Pirates, and one that will likely stand the test of time.
This would make a great Christmas gift to anyone interested in American history or to anyone interested in furthering their understanding of America's interaction with the Muslim world both then and now.
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