Overview

"They were legalized pirates empowered by the Continental Congress to raid and plunder, at their own considerable risk, as much enemy trade as they could successfully haul back to America's shores. They played a decisive role in America's struggle for independence and later turned their seafaring talents to the slave trade, revealing the conflict between enterprise and morality central to American history. In Patriot Pirates, Robert H. Patton, the grandson of the battlefield genius of World War II, writes how privateering engaged all levels of Revolutionary life, from the dockyards to the assembly halls; how it gave rise to wild speculation in purchased shares in privateer ventures, enabling sailors to make more money in a month than they might earn in a year; and how privateering created fortunes that survive to this day. As one naval historian wrote, ""The great battles of the American Revolution were fought on land, but independence was won at sea."" Patton writes how, in addition to its strategic and economic importance, privateering played a large political role in the Revolution. For example, Benjamin Franklin, from his diplomatic post in Paris, secretly encouraged skippers to sell their captured goods in French ports--a calculated effort on Franklin's part to break the neutrality agreements between France and Britain, bring the two countries to blows, and take the pressure off American fighters. This is a sweeping tale of maritime rebel-entrepreneurs bent on personal profit and national freedom."

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9798200136797

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Reviews

"Alan Sklar narrates with spirit and enthusiasm, bringing alive both the historic conflicts and the political atmosphere of the Revolution.-- ""AudioFile"" ""Patton gives an absorbing exhumation of an undersung subject that will be of particular interest to Revolution buffs."" -- ""Publishers Weekly"" ""This is a well-written examination of an obscure aspect of American military history."" -- ""Booklist"""

Author Information

Robert H. Patton, the grandson of General George S. Patton, is a novelist living in Darien, Connecticut. His books include The Pattons: A Personal History of an American Family, Up, Down and Sideways, and Life Between Wars. Alan Sklar, a graduate of Dartmouth, has excelled in his career as a freelance voice actor. Named a Best Voice of 2009 by AudioFile magazine, his work has earned him several Earphones Awards, a Booklist Editors' Choice Award (twice), a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award, and Audiobook of the Year by ForeWord magazine. He has also narrated thousands of corporate videos for clients such as NASA, Sikorsky Aircraft, IBM, Dannon, Pfizer, AT&T, and SONY.

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