Ahoy there me mateys! This is going to be an unpopular viewpoint to some of the crew and if ye feel ye cannot be on me crew any longer after it then we shall part ways. This book made me angry and I feel the need to explain why. Part of this arises from the fact that before readin’ this book, I read two other books about Jefferson and slavery. Part of this was the narration which was odd and will be explained further in a moment. Part of it was the lack of details in the narration. This anger made sense once I learned a single fact after readin’ the book.

Now this book was recommended to be by my maman who knows me fascination with both history and pirates. She has not read it but had it recommended to her and thus me. Despite me crappy American history class, I knew nothing about the Tripolitanian War or the pirates of same. So I approached this book with more than a little interest. I borrowed the audiobook from the library and began listening to it with excitement. This started out odd from the beginning.

Perhaps some will laugh but I had no idea who the authors were. Others who do know them will already guess the punchline. When the book began, I was informed that one of the authors was the narrator though I didn’t know which one. This usually makes me wary and I prefer it doesn’t happen except for a few exceptions. So already I was nervous. Then the book began. I usually listen to books on 2x the speed but he talked so fast that had to restart the book four times in order to find the correct speed for me (1.4x). And while he was readin’ the narrator had an odd cadence of almost shouting while emphasizing strange words. In fact, it seemed to be that any word with racial connotations or Muslim hatred or American superiority were the focal point of the sentence no matter what the rest of the sentence structure. The overall tone was strange. But I did eventually get used to enough that the curiosity of the history took over me attention.

The story itself seemed not only skewed but also distorted. I did think it was odd that the book was so short. And this lack of detail was apparent throughout. One part that irked was the discussions on how barbaric the Barbary States were. The author talks about how awful it was that good [white] Americans were being enslaved by the Muslims. No mention of slavery of blacks in worse conditions back home. Most of the emphasis seemed to be that the Quran lets Christians be slaves and how that is a horrible justification. Of course Christians keeping slaves is fine because they are Christians. Ugh.

For a book on the formative of the American navy, there was no real discussion of ship design or naval tactics. I thought I was going to get a lot of specifics. Plus the book seemed happy to suggest the Barbary States particular focus was on harassing Americans. No substantial mention was made of the fact that these pirates were the scourge of anyone and everyone who sailed on the Mediterranean. One fact I read elsewhere stated “between between 1 and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves between the 16th and 19th centuries.” This piracy was a substantial part of those nations wealth and power. Practically everyone paid tribute for safe ship passage.

During the same time frame of this book, Sweden had already declared war on the pirates. The whole cause of the American war was not because the pirates had enslaved American men, many of whom were slaves for 5 years or more. The war was because Jefferson no longer wanted to pay the vast sums of tribute to the pirates that the new nation couldn’t afford. Jefferson wanted open trade routes and money not morals led to his decisions. One only has to look at his policy on slavery in American to see that. This book claims to make this a war about American ideals and morality. It was about money and disruption of trade. It was about looking powerful in the eyes of the rest of the world.

Which brings me to me last point. The narrator turned out to be Brian Kilmeade, a Fox News personality. Me idea of listening to a bad news story actually turned out to be true! I have never seen him before or watched his show. But suddenly the oddness of the whole readin’ experience made sense. I was getting a white-washed version of this war where the Muslim people were psychos who continue to be a major problem for poor little America. Weird quotes like the one below suddenly made sense:

“Tired of Americans being captured and held for ransom, our third president decided to take on the Barbary powers in a war that is barely remembered today but is one that, in many ways, we are still fighting.” ― Brian Kilmeade, Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History

So while I enjoyed some of the new facts of the story, I cannot in good conscience recommend this book due to the racist, elitist manner in which it was told. And in fact, I cannot in good conscience even say that this history happened in this fashion due to the lack of depth of the narration itself. This War does not seem to have been “forgotten” as there are many works previously written on the topic. In looking at other reviews of this book, I did come across an excellent review on Amazon which I will put here in its entirety for me own later recollection and for those who may want to read books on this interesting but maligned topic. Here be MWRNR’s review

"Thomas Jefferson wrote hundreds of letters each year. So, with his name in the title, you would expect an in-depth study of the wars from his perspective and letters. However, that is not the case. Instead, this book appears to be a general history of the wars written for Middle School students that need a quick read for a book report. For a much better history of the squadron, ship, and Marine actions during the US wars with Barbary Pirates, I recommend “Dawn Like Thunder” by Glenn Tucker. To put the wars in context and a correct history of the creation of the navy by President John Adams and the Federalist Party with its opposition by Thomas Jefferson and the Republican Party, I recommend “Six Frigates” by Ian W. Toll. For a very good discussion in the context of religious and political beliefs of the Americans at the time, I recommend “The Barbary Wars” by Frank Lambert. For shorter versions of the wars (that are still more informative and superior to Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates) included in a broader context I also recommend “The Forgotten Wars” by Howard P. Nash and “Edward Prebble” by Christopher McKee."

I wasn’t going to read more on this war but now I feel like I should give this historical period another look from another perspective.

Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/