By Christopher HitchensCity Journal April 20, 2007
When I first began to plan my short biography of Thomas Jefferson, I found it difficult to research the chapter concerning the so-called Barbary Wars: an event or series of events that had seemingly receded over the lost horizon of American history. Henry Adams, in his discussion of our third president, had some boyhood reminiscences of the widespread hero-worship of naval officer Stephen Decatur, and other fragments and shards showed up in other quarries, but a sound general history of the subject was hard to come by. When I asked a professional military historian—a man with direct access to Defense Department archives—if there was any book that he could recommend, he came back with a slight shrug.
... nicely done, well worth the read ...
2 comments:
Despite the criticism that Hitchen's biography of Jefferson is a Hitchen's biography of Jefferson, it is well worth a read. Thankfully, it is the soul of brevity.
Yes, he seemed to love to refer to himself, but he did recommend a couple of good books.
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