Synopses & Reviews
John Paul Jones, at sea and in the heat of the battle, was the great American hero of the Age of Sail. He was to history what Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey and C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower are to fiction. Ruthless, indomitable, clever; he vowed to sail, as he put it, "in harm's way." Evan Thomas's minute-by-minute re-creation of the bloodbath between Jones's andlt;Iandgt;Bonhomme Richardandlt;/Iandgt; and the British man-of-war andlt;Iandgt;Serapisandlt;/Iandgt; off the coast of England on an autumn night in 1779 is as gripping a sea battle as can be found in any novel. andlt;BRandgt; Drawing on Jones's correspondence with some of the most significant figures of the American Revolution -- John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson -- Thomas's biography teaches us that it took fighters as well as thinkers, men driven by dreams of personal glory as well as high-minded principle, to break free of the past and start a new world. Jones's spirit was classically American.
Review
Nathaniel Philbrick andlt;Iandgt;The New York Times Book Reviewandlt;/Iandgt; A penetrating biography...an adventure story....Part George Patton, part Jesse James, Jones was, as it turns out, a perfect American hero.
Review
andlt;Iandgt;The Washington Postandlt;/Iandgt; Every sentence is written with grace and style....Thomas opens a window on the squalid, demeaning, and hazardous milieu of eighteenth-century mariners and provides unsurpassed descriptions of naval battles.
Review
andlt;Iandgt;Chicago Sun-Timesandlt;/Iandgt; His stirring accounts of Jones's sea battles will delight those who loved Patrick O'Brian's novels about Capt. Jack Aubrey and C. S. Forester's tales of Horatio Hornblower.
Synopsis
The New York Times bestseller from master biographer Evan Thomas brings to life the tumultuous story of the father of the American Navy.
John Paul Jones, at sea and in the heat of the battle, was the great American hero of the Age of Sail. He was to history what Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey and C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower are to fiction. Ruthless, indomitable, clever; he vowed to sail, as he put it, "in harm's way." Evan Thomas's minute-by-minute re-creation of the bloodbath between Jones's Bonhomme Richard and the British man-of-war Serapis off the coast of England on an autumn night in 1779 is as gripping a sea battle as can be found in any novel.
Drawing on Jones's correspondence with some of the most significant figures of the American Revolution--John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson--Thomas's biography teaches us that it took fighters as well as thinkers, men driven by dreams of personal glory as well as high-minded principle, to break free of the past and start a new world. Jones's spirit was classically American.
About the Author
andlt;bandgt;Evan Thomas andlt;/bandgt;is the author of andlt;iandgt;The Very Best Men: Four Who Dared: The Early Years of the C.I.A.andlt;/iandgt;; andlt;iandgt;Robert Kennedy: His Life; The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst and the Rush to Empire, 1989andlt;/iandgt;; andlt;iandgt;Sea of Thunder: The Last Great Naval Command, 1941-1945andlt;/iandgt;; and andlt;iandgt;John Paul Jones. andlt;/iandgt;His most recent book is andlt;iandgt;Ikeand#8217;s Bluff: President Eisenhowerand#8217;s Secret Battle to Save the Worldandlt;/iandgt;.