Book: Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History

Anyone here read this book yet?

[link to www.amazon.com]

Some reviews:

"Great history of our first war with radical Islam. This book should be used as a text book in high schools!"

"Upon receiving this book, I did not put it down once. I read it cover to cover. It should be mandatory reading for everyone. Not for the tales of action and glory, but for the underlying principles of valor, heroism, and patriotism that our nation was built upon. We need those from this book in today's world."

"Without giving away too much from the book, the U.S. paid very high ransom to these nations for years. In March 1785, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to London to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy, ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman. When they enquired "concerning the ground of the pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury", the ambassador replied: "It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every Mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise." He also said that "the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy's ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once."