Pirates from north africas barbary coast routinely captured american sailors and held them as slaves demanding ransom and tribute payments far beyond what the new country could afford over the previous fifteen years as a diplomat and then as secretary of state jefferson had tried to work with the barbary states tripoli tunis algiers . When thomas jefferson became president in 1801 america was deeply in debt with its economy and dignity under attack pirates from north africas barbary coast routinely captured american merchant ships and held the sailors as slaves demanding ransom and tribute payments far beyond what the new country could afford. Thomas jefferson and the tripoli pirates the forgotten war that changed american history this is a very quick read but well worth the readers time this book is just around 200 pages which i read in a few hours but it took me much longer to look up all the places ship designs and other details the authors described. Thomas jefferson and the tripoli pirates the forgotten war that changed american history brian kilmeade and don yaeger format book published new york sentinel 2017 description xx 273 pages 8 plates illustrations some color maps 19 cm other contributors yaeger don author notes. I highly recommend thomas jefferson and the tripoli pirates for those interested in american history cant wait for brians next book with his second historical book brian kilmeade has proven he is a force to be reckoned with in writing american history