The End of Barbary Terror: America's 1815 War against the Pirates of North Africa

Review
"The book recounts a stunning military success. With a mix of bravery and luck, Decatur defeated two enemy ships on his way to Algiers. Within 48 hours of arriving on the shore of the most powerful Barbary state, Decatur was able to force peace on American terms ('dictated at the mouths of our cannon, ' as he later said). The U.S.'s infant Navy had scored a victory that had eluded European powers for nearly three centuries."–Jonathan Karl, Wall Street Journal
"A fascinating account of what popular historians now refer to as America's first war against state-sponsored terrorism…. Leiner, drawing on everything from ship logs, journals, and love letters to published papers and official documents, writes of the squadron of ten ships that sailed into Barbary territory on June 17, 1815, and–in quick succession–defeated or captured the opposing Algerine warships."–Library Journal
"Frederick C. Leiner's dramatic history of Stephen Decatur's mission to Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli in 1815 is not only a vivid narrative of America's largest and most successful overseas expedition during the Age of Sail, it is also an illuminating micro-history of the culture, politics, and personalities of America's first war against state-sponsored terror."–Craig L. Symonds, author of Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles That Shaped American History
"A solid study written in a lively style about the role of the U.S. Navy and Sate Department in terminating state-sponsored piracy in the Mediterranean."–The Journal of Military History
"Frederick Leiner's The End of Barbary Terror is not only an exciting and well-told sea story, but a well-researched reminder that with regard totransnational terrorism, the only thing new in the world is the history that you don't know."–Dr. John F. Lehman, former Secretary of the Navy and member of the 9/11 Commission, and author of On Seas of Glory: Heroic Men, Great Ships, and Epic Battles of the American Navy
"Frederick Leiner has taken an almost forgotten moment in early U.S. history–the 1812 capture by Algerines of an obscure Yankee sailing brig–and by focusing exclusively on that incident and the events deriving from it has woven a remarkably complex yet totally coherent tapestry of the times. There are heroes and villains galore, mysterious secret agents and conniving heads of state; there are wars and other international crises, numerous historical set pieces and acts of derring-do. All told, there's enough spectacle and drama to satisfy any reader."–James Tertius de Kay, author of A Rage for Glory: The Life of Commodore Stephen Decatur, USN