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Before America ruled the seas, it had to pay ransom for peace. At the dawn of the nineteenth century, U.S. merchant ships were seized and their crews enslaved by the Barbary States of North Africa. The young republic faced a choice: pay tribute or build a navy. Millions for Defense tells the story of how a struggling nation - barely twenty years after independence - confronted Islamic corsairs, European cynicism, and its own political divisions to forge a new weapon: sea power. Drawing on naval logs, diplomatic archives, and eyewitness accounts, Walter Malausky reconstructs the Barbary Wars as both a military campaign and a test of national identity. Discover: How Jefferson's moral defiance reshaped U.S. foreign policy The evolution of the first U.S. Navy squadrons and shipyards The early origins of America's global presence at sea This is the story of how a fledgling republic found its strength on salt water - and how the first American empire was built not by conquest, but by resolve. ""Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute."" - Robert Goodloe Harper, 1797

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