Reviews

"Frank Lambert's new book is a lucid and compelling account of the new American nation's first confrontation with the Muslim world. Lambert situates struggle against North African 'pirates' within the broader context of America's quest for free trade and commercial independence, countering the anachronistic tendency of recent historians to inflate the significance of religious and cultural differences. "The Barbary Wars" is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the new nation's troubled early history." --Peter Onuf, University of Virginia