“Vibrant and comprehensive, Toll makes an impressive debut.” Nicholas Basbanes, Los Angeles Times Book Review “Admirers of the late novelist Patrick O’Brian will relish Toll’s telling.” He does not write that a ship headed offshore, but that it, the Chesapeake, ‘doubled Cape Henry and steered into the offing, dead east on the compass.’”

He quotes from piloting guides, considers the frigates’ sailing abilities, and remarks on spring fogs in Massachusetts Bay. “Toll steers his readers handily through matters of policy and politics….

Michael Pembroke, Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) It is a magnificent, riveting achievement.” This was a book I did not want to finish. “Above all, Toll writes with clarity and force. He evokes the world of Patrick O’Brian, the salt-stained ruthlessness of naval commanders, the carnage of the broadside and the surgeon’s saw, but also conjures a lost American landscape.” A great, sprawling, and fascinating tale.” “A superb, page-turning history of America’s first truly difficult set of political military decisions…. Toll’s Six Frigates is a masterly work…comprehensive, beautifully written and exciting to read. “Sweeping in scope, full of vivid descriptions of naval battles and solidly grounded in the diplomatic landscape from the American Revolution through the War of 1812, Ian W. The result is a thoroughly readable book that adds depth and significance to an important era of American history.” “Toll has a light touch, much like noted historian David McCullough well-researched facts are carefully balanced by smooth narrative flow…. “Gripping…a masterful narrative…Toll captures the ambivalence of the government, and its reluctance to pay for even a tiny navy, very well.” Evan Thomas, New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) captures the zest for action that seized, and sometimes warped, young warriors on all sides.” The battle depictions are worthy of Patrick O’Brian…Toll has plumbed diaries, letters and ships’ logs to give the reader a feel for the human quirks and harsh demands of life at sea in the Age of Sail…. “A fluent, intelligent history of American military policy from the early 1790s…but the book’s real value, and the pleasure it provides, lies in Toll’s grasp of the human dimension of his subject….

Toll provides perspective by seamlessly incorporating the era’s political and diplomatic history into his superlative single-volume narrative-a must-read for fans of naval history and the early American Republic.” “ rousing, exhaustively researched history…. His factual story is as exciting as any of Patrick O’Brian’s fictional seafaring tales.” “In this account of the early history of the American navy, Ian Toll seeks to explain not just how happened, but also why. Winner of the 2007 Samuel Eliot Morison Award and the 2007 William E.

Six frigates ian w toll