Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy Reviews

• Richly Detailed Look at early American Naval History

  
  By A2UTLJJWNBL4YS on 2006-10-09
  Few eras of American history are more misunderstood than the naval history of early America after the Revolutionary War. Former financial analyst and political aide Ian Toll sheds new light on this era in his richly detailed and comprehensive first book, Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy. The saga of the original six frigates, the Constitution, Constellation, Congress, President, United States, and the Chesapeake, is one of naval necessity, partisan politics, and the ungainly steps of a young country attempting to defend and assert itself in a dangerous world.
  
  A common misconception in American history is that the original six frigates were begun during the Revolution. As Toll describes in excellent detail, it was in fact under the presidencies of George Washington and John Adams that the decision to form a standing navy was made. With America's merchant fleet under predation from North African pirates, French privateers, and British warships, ships to protect and fly the flag were necessary. An already contentious and partisan Congress argued endlessly over the formation of a American navy to deal with the problem, and finally the Naval Act of 1794 approved funding for the construction of six ships: four 44-gun and two 36-gun frigates. Designed by Joshua Humphreys, the ships were to be the strongest and most effective frigates afloat, a tough job in a world where the Royal Navy dominated. The frigates would play key roles in the quasi-war with France, the Barbary wars, and the War of 1812, and Toll chronicles the personalities, the politics, and the world situation that shaped both the ships and the campaigns in which they took part.
  
  What these ships are best known for, and what is most familiar with the laymen are the battles. Toll describes every major ship-to-ship engagement fought by the original six with a vividness rarely seen in naval histories, rich enough to hear the thunder of the guns and smell the cordite from the gunpowder. The major actions described are: Constellation v. L'Insurgente, Constellation v. La Vengeance, United States v. Macedonian, Constitution v. Guerriere, Constitution v. Java, Shannon v. Chesapeake, and President v. Endymion. Also well addressed are the actions against the Barbary states, including a well-written chapter on the loss of the subscription frigate Philadelphia, and the daring exploits of Stephen Decatur to destroy the captured frigate. The major naval figures of the era like Truxton, Bainbridge, Hull, Decatur, Rodgers, and Barron are all examined by Toll with an observer's eye that fleshes out the caricatures as most histories portray them into real life men.
  
  The end of the War of 1812 saw the launch of the first American ships-of-the-line, but it was the frigate navy that paved the way. Toll's book is an important addition that clears the mythology away from the early US Navy and incorporates all the naval, economic, political, and social elements that contributed to its founding and formation. Toll occasionally strays out of his lane, and the postscript loses a bit of focus delving into the post Civil War navy, but as a whole, this is an excellent book that will satisfy naval buffs and students of history alike. Toll's elegant and rich writing and exhaustive research marks him as an author to watch, and I eagerly await his next work. The original six frigates played a large part in the prestige of early America. Their successes, and their failures, demonstrated that the young United States was a blossoming world power worthy of respect and regard. Highly Recommended.
  
  
  A.G. Corwin
  St.Louis, MO
  
  

• A Much-Needed History

  
  By A15CG2WZ25RE4S on 2006-10-18
  Ever since reading Patrick O'Brian's depiction of the battle between the USS Constitution and the HMS Java in "The Fortune of War," I've wanted to learn more about the United States's own naval history from that period. Surprisingly, though, I was unable to find many published works on the subject. Finally, Toll's "Six Frigates" has arrived, and it's exactly the sort of book I was looking for.
  
  "Six Frigates" is a comprehensive look at the founding of the American Navy, from the years shortly after the Revolutionary War. While the young nation had won its independence, the rest of the world still thought of it as a target ripe for exploitation, and the United States soon found its vulnerable merchant fleet being preyed upon, not only by the Great Powers of Europe, but even the small, piratical nations of the Barbary Coast.
  
  The obvious solution would seem to be the creation of an armed navy, but a surprising revelation of Toll's book is just how much opposition to the idea existed amongst the country's early leadership. Fans of David McCullough's "John Adams" and "1776" will be pleased by the appearance of figures like Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, but here Toll focuses more on their political actions and philosophies than their personalities or character. The arguments over whether creating a navy only served the interests of war profiteers, or whether having one placed too much power in the central government, or might cause the government's bankruptcy, provides a fascinating perspective on the differences between the early Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans.
  
  Grudgingly, and in fits and starts, the federal government allowed for the creation of the book's eponymous six frigates. Toll gives credit to Joshua Humphreys, a Quaker who had never before designed a military vessel, for creating a new class of warships that would be more heavily armed than conventional frigates, but lighter and faster than ships of the line, a choice that would prove to be of immense value in later years, when the small American fleet found itself in conflict with the supreme might of the British Royal Navy.
  
  Initially, however, the U.S. Navy's performance was at best uneven. Toll describes the early U.S. conflicts in the Quasi-War against France and in the wars against Barbary pirates, and his accounts of the various ship battles are the best feature of this work. Those who love Patrick O'Brian will be thrilled by the true life exploits recounted here, and Toll spares none of the details. America's early captains and commodores are presented as the book's most colorful characters--variously incompetent, unlucky, hot-headed, or charismatic--and their victories and defeats alternately were the source of great pride and humiliation for their nation.
  
  With the outbreak of war against Great Britain in 1812, the "little navy" finally came into its own, by defeating the Royal Navy in several ship-to-ship battles--and again, Toll's descriptions of the numerous actions are superb. Coming at a time when His Majesty's ships were thought to be unbeatable, especially by the British, these victories finally proved the worth of maintaining a standing navy to the Jefffersonian Republicans; even more importantly, they played a vital role in forcing the other nations of the world to realize that America was a power that had to be respected.
  
  While Toll is a first-time writer, the book is very well-written. So well-written, in fact, that coming across the occasional obvious typo causes mild irritation--hopefully future editions will correct these. There are color plates interspersed throughout the book that help convey the flavor of the time period, and Toll also includes a chronology of events after 1815 that probably wasn't necessary. The bibliography and index sections appear extensive.
  
  Overall, this is a very enjoyable and entertaining history. I recommend it highly.
  
  

• Well crafted,5 stars highly recommended

  
  By A27548ALNP5FNY on 2006-10-04
  I am only halfway through this well researched and comprehensive work by Ian Toll and I very much looking forward to his next offering. This book is not simply the tale of the origins of the US Navy, although it most certainly thoroughly accomplishes that. Mr Toll succeeds masterfully at painting a picture of this time without over-burdening the reader with excessive or unneccessary detail, as some historic military related pieces can. Snippets of remembrances, stories from Jefferson, Adams, wives, the various captains, crew members, and common folk alike, many rarely used by other historians, bring color and depth to this thoughtful and well crafted work.
  There are many unmistakable parallels to be drawn between the political infighting of these early years and later events including the Civil War and on up to today. Highly recommended.
  Anyone with an abiding appreciation for good story telling, history, biography or politics will find it all right here.
  
  

• The Origins of the US Navy

  
  By A260X99UW6HA9Z on 2007-04-26
  Six Frigates is a great read for anyone interested in naval history during the age of sail. Ian Toll does a very good job of detailing the political background and historical circumstances that led to the creation of the US Navy shortly after America's struggle to achieve sovereignty. I found the political landscape particularly interesting, as the infighting between nascent political parties ranged from agriculture to commerce, and how this affected the naval policy (and whether there even should BE a navy at all!).
  
  It was very interesting to see how bureaucratic problems and commercial interests affected national policy. At time it is easy to lament about our nation's current standing with regards to these topics, however, Six Frigates gives an interesting perspective on how the past is not nearly as pristine and rosy as we'd like to imagine.
  
  The chapters detailing specific naval military engagements are well written and I was never confused about the ships' relationship to each other throughout the battles. They are also as exciting as they are interesting. As I read this book shortly after returning from Iraq and spending the summer of 2006 driving around Baghdad concerned with the prospect of a molten copper disks being blasted through me and thinking "this is such a dirty war", I was again checked in my views on the past while reading about sailors who dealt with mind-boggling quantities of iron balls being blasted through their wooden ships. Another very interesting chapter dealt with a blockaded American port sending out mined boats in an attempt to destroy the vastly superior British naval force in what immediately brought my mind back to the game of cat/mouse with IEDs in Iraq. I guess one of the lessons I took away was: the past is not a pristine utopia & war has never been clean.
  
  All these personal reflections aside, the history is well researched and documented, and will definitely keep your interest throughout. My one critique is that Toll neglects some of the land campaigns that continued in the Barbary States following the Navy's creation; although this is out of the scope of his history (and not just my Army bias), they seem so connected to the events that their inclusion would have made a great read into an excellent one.
  
  
  

• Reading this book at sea...

  
  By AXF5PMGWWOLC9 on 2006-10-15
  I read "Six Frigates" sailing south down the coast of Australia from Hamilton Island in the Whitsunday group.
  
  Keen to dodge a storm, we did a 48 hour dash down to the safety of Yepoon running a 3 hours on/3 hours off watch cycle. Problem was I didnt get any sleep. I was too deep inside Six Frigates. Back on deck, I'd update my watch on what I'd just read. They loved it. Sailing by instalments.
  
  Ian Toll's a wonderful writer. The man is a time machine. He drops you right into the middle of the smoke-filled, blood splattered action. Patrick O'Brian fans: this is the book for you.
  
  Toll is also a deft hand at dropping insights that get you thinking. Like the half-parargraph mention of Madison writing to Thomas Jefferson agreeing that a war with the arab states of north africa could easily be won, and in the process stop the attacks on US merchant ships -but advises Jefferson against this course as the real issue will be the cost of then keeping the peace... Perhaps George W should have a read a little more history at college.
  
  You'll taste the sweat and blood and salt on every page. Best read I've had in ages. And my shipmates agree!
  
  cheers
  Andrew Maloney
  Aboard Sonnet
  
  
• Interesting Popular History
  By A21QV5QVXHBRZ3 on 2007-12-16
  I've been studying the early American Navy off and on throughout my life and deeply for the last decade, so I might be a little jaundiced, but Six Frigates, though interesting and well-written, really doesn't break any new ground. I have nothing against the book, per se; it's the overly effusive reviews of others that lead me to offer a caution. All the information in this book has been available to those who would look for some time. Though fiction writers have made frigate actions the epitome of naval combat, there really was much more to the early American navy than these six ships. The capture of Derne that precipitated the end of the Tripoli campaign was successful due to the efforts of much smaller warships, brigs and schooners for the most part. Oliver Perry had only brigs, schooners and a sloop in his squadron when he defeated the British at the Battle of Lake Erie and helped secure the Old Northwest Territory for the American republic. The same holds true for Thomas Macdonough on Lake Champlain; and, as Henry Adams points out in his History of the Madison Administration, sloops of war probably caused the British more actual damage than the frigate actions, no matter how glorious they were. If you add the many actions by privateers you get a much better perspective on the extent of American success.
  I would urge readers of Six Frigates to delve deeper into the early history of the American Navy. I believe the book has a good bibliography; if so, it's a good place to start.
  
  
• History Come Alive
  By AVAV7N1TLICFG on 2006-11-19
  I'm a military officer, but, I must admit, I didn't know much about the War of 1812. Having been stationed at Plattsburgh AFB, I knew of the Battle of Plattsburgh, but not its significance. As it turns out, Mr. Toll's very readable book fills in many gaps in my knowledge, such as this one. It's a great rendition of the very real people and grand events surrounding the founding of our nation, with the infant US Navy presenting the backdrop and the storyline. And, it reads like a novel - so much so, in fact, it is one of those rare books that, once started, becomes difficult to put down.
  
  The jacket cover of this book indicates Mr. Toll was a financial analyst by trade. I hope he's given up that mundane calling, and dedicates himself to writing more exciting stories like this one. I very much look forward to his next effort.
  
  
  
  
• Five Stars - Five Hurrahs for Six Frigates
  By AJDZ8O1FR39TD on 2007-01-03
  In Six Frigates, Ian Toll captures both the grand design and small nuances of America's evolution toward a naval power. I enthusiastically recommend this book as a superb distillation of a period of history frequently given modest attention.
  
  Well researched, exquisitely written, Toll engages attention from the first and comfortably navigates the reader through the philosphical, political, economic, technological and military convolutions that were the seed of the U.S. Navy. Toll chronicles key naval actions of the Quasi War, Barbary Coast, and War of 1812. But "conflict" is not reserved to "Old Ironsides" or her sisters. Toll sets the miltary stage with a thorough and insightful examination of the political and economic ebb and flow of the time, and how "civilian" matters shaped action at sea. Toll examines the political debate (Federalist v. Republican) on the notion of whether or not to establish a permanent navy and, if so, how it should be best funded and managed. Toll is also careful to juxtaposition the personalities, strategies and actions of the foreign powers of the time, Great Britain and France.
  
  The book includes enlightening biographies of key political players and their opinions. For example, Toll puzzles over Jefferson's contradictions, writing, "...it is hardly surprising to find that Jefferson's words and deeds on the subject of seapower are dissonant. While serving as minister to France in the 1780s, [Jefferson] had argued in favor of building frigates to patrol the Mediterranean... Fifteen years later, campaigning for president at the head of the fiercely anti-navalist Republican Party, he declared himself in favor of 'such a naval force only as may protect our coasts and harbors'..." (Page 162). Toll is deft discussing conflicting design theories including Joshua Humphrey's unorthodox specifications for the title ships. While giving technical highlights, overbearing detail is avoided. He also gives balanced treatment to key naval leaders in the context of personal deportment, personnel and logistical management, and combat ability. Tangents on dueling to settle matters of honor, the chivalrous correspondence between British and American captains, the yellow fever epidemic of 1797, or how Quercus virens (southern live oak) was harvested and turned into ships adds flavor, color and context to the main theme.
  
  Divided into three parts, each roughly 150 pages, I read Six Frigates in three days. The Notes and Bibliography are thorough and professionally rendered. My complaints are three. Numerous spelling errors are a surprising and consistent annoynance. Next is nomenclature. Toll's position (set forth early on) leaves the layman reaching for a dictionary to translate nautical terms. (What is a xebeck, polacre and felucca? One can guess yet remain uncertain about sailors "worming, serving, splicing, hitching, bending, grafting, seizing and parceling" hemp cordage. And understanding maneuvers requires a mix of insight, intuition, extrapolation from context and outright guesswork... close reefs, bent the mizzen, close-reefed fore topsail, hauling her wind, dead to windward, swayed up her topgallant, unbent her cables.) Here margin cut-outs, footnotes or a glossary would have ensured clarity while keeping the length managable.
  
  Finally, and most egregiously, is the scarcity of maps. Toll provides two charts in the bookplates following pages 143 and 304. While artistically pleasing and interesting, they are period sketches woefully inadequate to placing the reader into the action or to better understand the politics, military strategy and troop and ship movements. A general ship's diagram (e.g., in cross section) would have also been valuable.
  
  While perhaps a 4-star in some areas of execution, the subject matter, insight and readability easily warrant FIVE STARS and my endorsement.
  
  
• Another Shovel of Praise for the Pile
  By AEATV7GOCQ1ZJ on 2007-06-25
  I admit to a bit a skepticism when I read the author's biography on the bookcover. A Wall Street guy with some political stuff on his resume is going to write an "epic history of the founding of the U.S. Navy"? This is going to be good. I was wrong...this was REALLY good. "Six Frigates" is this guy's FIRST book? This has to be the literary equivalent of someone hitting a grand-slam in their first major league at-bat. His narrative, spanning just over two decades of the Republic's earliest years, culminates with the War of 1812. Toll leaves the reader with a clear understanding of the political rivalries, economic challenges, and the very significant external and internal threats to the nation's survival that existed at the time. Anyone who pays attention to current events will see some intriguing parallels. The contemporary pundits and politicians who blather about how our nation has never been so divided need to sit down with this for a few hours. Our navy now enjoys a similar position to the British at that time. However, it may not be very long before some upstart naval power challenges U.S. control of the seas...at least regionally. The Royal Navy wasn't in the habit of losing to anyone and neither is today's U.S. Navy. One can only imagine the shock onboard HMS GUERRIERE as it was being blown apart by USS CONSTITUTION, a ship to which the Royal Navy had no direct equivalent. The loss was but a pinprick to the Royal Navy's line-of-battle, but the repeated success of these first purpose-built warships along with the privateers put a big dent in the aura of invincibility that surrounded the Royal Navy and all but destroyed British commercial shipping. Although controversial and unpopular while it was fought, the second war with Great Britain produced long-term world-wide respect for U.S. sovereignty. Ian Toll's command of his subject is impressive, and his personal experience with sailing vessels provides him a critical skill; he obviously understands how these ships worked and is able to describe the battle in a way that, at times, not even O'Brian can match.
  
  
• A Fabulous Historical Page Turner!
  By A3OZUDAWK1O3E5 on 2006-10-19
  I am having a hard time putting down Ian Toll's "Six Frigates" to write a female's point of view...this is truly a page turner, an enlightening and very refreshing review of our early naval history which reads like a novel, pulling one into the action and times on each page - even if you are not a naval/history buff. I await with great impatience Mr. Toll's next venture.
  
  
• personal letter of praise written to old friend Ian...
  By A1LSLCTA0VRG0C on 2006-10-24
  ian,
  
  allow me to lavish praise on your book. it's outstanding, truly...
  
  but first, believing i represent some tiny segment of your readership, i want to first tell you my story...
  
  in 2001, a friend bought me the first two patrick o'brian books for my birthday. we'd recently watched "mutiny on the bounty" and seeing my interest, he must have felt it was time. i worked through the two books, and it was work at first, but the story caught. then so did my apartment - on fire! i lost everything, books included. years later, in 2005, finally settling down after rebuilding my apartment, renting it out, then building a new house and getting married, i started the series again. the books soon became all i read, book after book. i'd had the fortune of meeting a friend just before his trip - clearing his bookshelves and unloading his o'brian collection made for a friendly provenance. i worked through the stack when possilbe in my daily routine as a new father. i mainly read them on the can, at lunch, at night before bed - anytime i had to wait for something became an opportunity to read! the series was one of the joys of my life.
  
  over summer vacation, i finished the last book and grieved. i grieved! aimless and desperate, i started the hornblower series but soon sorrowed of their adolescent nature. i rented a well-reviewed hornblower movie but it thoroughly doused my interest - the scene of stiff-sailed model ships trading broadsides while pulled underneath... i realized ingeniously that i could start the o'brian series again! when my wife saw me reading another o'brian book that night in bed, i sheepishly explained that it had been so long since i'd read them, i'd no doubt missed so much the first time... alas, what joy! young jack aubrey! i was enthralled. but after HMS Surprise there was a gap in my collection... at the same time, i received your invitation to navy yard talk, and i recalled your book was out. i picked it up, and wow! we were just college acquaintences but i'm very, very impressed. and inspired.
  
  where to begin? the scope of your book is awesome. you've illuminated an area of history, a time of life in this country that was dark to me. as a young student of history, i'm enlightened and yet further hungered. early on in the reading i wondered how audacious an effort of yours this was -- how bold to enter a such field of giants (and shrews?). no doubt you studied and measured them all before designing yours. but who are you that you have read so much and can speak among them? what an accomplishment! and in this time of national shame, you've told the story of all the political characters -- the hawks and the doves -- and found what it is to be proud and american.
  
  the story in the guts your book is rivetting. for covering such a broad subject, you never deviated from the essential suspensful story and your steady pace of your prose kept me locked in step. one of the things i noticed about hornblower was the non-stop action. there was never a moment's rest - no yin, all yang. returning to o'brian, i appreciated the calm periods, long after the din of battle when the senses pick up re-tune to the environment and something very subtle. in these moments the soul refreshes, recalls the nature existence, almost to the point of thinking itself to neuroses before hungering again for passionate action. your book does it all, gathering up the story from its earliest beginnings, assembling sympathies, building toward conflict, satiating the hunger for revenge and blood. and between actions you lovingly describe scenes of our infant country(side) and its inhabitants virtues and vices.
  
  especially impressive, the tone of your book is stalwart and unwavering. i'm flaberghasted that you could have taken a mountain of research and levelled it into such an accessible, flowing narrative. you allowed so many different voices to speak and conducted a symphony. no perspective can possibly be objective, can it? yet your book creates that illusion perfectly! and you finish the book so gracefully, covering the messy ending of the war itself and blending the storytelling of the time to past history-writing to the present. you let me 'let go' of the story while simultaneously creating a place for yourself in the great story, a temporal-layering that must have mystified you wonderously at the time.
  
  bravo! can't wait for the next one...
  
  Greg Crist
  Washington, DC
  
  
  
• Good but not definitive
  By A1JIHW2KM9Q46W on 2007-01-31
  There is much about this book that I like. Its well written, holds the reader's interest, and moves right along. Toll does a good job with the back story - the personalities and various special interest groups that make up the American political scene during the days of the early republic. The background and story of the Quasi War with France is well presented. The naval part of the war with the Barbary States is likewise well presented (although the land campaign of William Eaton is hardly mentioned except in passing). When we get to the War of 1812 however, Toll begins to lose the thread. He does a good job presenting the famous single ship duels between the big American frigates and their Royal Navy counterparts but he fails to cover the actions of the smaller warships like USS Wasp, which was the victor in two single ship actions. He barely mentions the exciting career of USS Essex in the Pacific and finally fails to give the war on the lakes, which was argueably more inportant in a strategic sense than the actions of the frigates, more than a mention. I wanted very much to give this book four stars, its very engaging, but Toll fails to deliver the whole story.
  
  
• Vivid and compelling
  By AS7YK5VYHF88C on 2006-11-14
  Take the seven weeks your basic U.S. History class spends on the period from the ratification of the Constitution through the War of 1812. Mash it up with any of Patrick O'Brian's novels. Append a little bit about how this particular cocktail affected Teddy Roosevelt (and subsequently the U.S. as global political and military power).
  
  What you wind up with is Ian Toll's Six Frigates, a wonderfully detailed examination of the evolution of the young United States.
  
  Really, imagine the U.S. History class you took in high school as it would have been taught by a naval historian. That's what Toll has created here. Also imagine that he brought in Patrick O'Brian to teach the parts about the conflicts with the Barbary States and individual engagements with the Royal Navy. Toll's accounts, both of political machinations and sea battles, are vividly rendered with exhaustive use of first-hand accounts and details. A long book, Six Frigates reads quickly in large part because of the rich evocations of pre-Industrial sailing, war and politics.
  
  The one thing that holds this book back is the generally undefined use of nautical and ship's terms (larboard, mizzenmast, royal yards, top sails, etc.) Toll points out in a brief foreword that the book might have been half-again as long had he paused to define all these terms, and he is likely correct. But a short glossary or a diagram of Constitution with her various sail apparatus would have made many of the details in the book more meaningful.
  
  
  
• wonderful history
  By A282HM1QF1N2MU on 2006-12-29
  "Six Frigates" is a first-rate book. It is fascinating, well-written, carefully researched, and very readable.
  
  Many know the story of the founding of the U.S. Navy, but this book will have details many will not know. It is full of wonderful detail, involving the ships and the men who sailed them, as well as the politicians who ended up finding the Navy they originally opposed very useful.
  
  The book details the political struggles of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, and the devious manipuilations of Hamilton and Burr. Nothing was easy in that political climate, and its a miracle any Navy survived at all.
  
  The big American frigates were constantly in use, against the French, the Arabs, and the British. The ships served long and well, and considerable sacrifice and heroism came from those who sailed on them. The story of the burning of the "Philadelphia," which has always been fascinating, is retold with great skill. A remarkable time, and remarkable men who carried it out.
  
  Joshua Humphreys designed some fabulous warships, and Ian Toll has written a fabulous book about them. I wish there were more like this.
  
  
• Early American Navy - Economics and Politics - Highly Recommended
  By A3KYVAF83LNE39 on 2006-12-09
  This book is SO fascinating on multiple levels: It's early American history, the War of 1812 interaction with Britain, post War of Independence. It's the Patrick O'Brian and Horatio Hornblower navies of wooden ships except from the American point of view. It's American Ingenuity mixed with Economics and Politics. It's "when war supercedes diplomacy" and the issues and costs that then arise.
  
  SO fascinating the designs of the ships DECADES in advance of their use. It's (always) about people - the designers, the politicians, the ship captains, the respect of adversaries, the reconciliation of peoples who have bigger issues on their plates than disputes with each other. We hear where the "Tripoli" of the Marine Hymn arose ("... halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli."). We learn much more about "Old Ironsides" (Constitution) and the OTHer five ships, its contemporaries.
  
  It's SO instructive to re-read the politics and economics of the past and look at the present day in their light. Highly recommended!
  
  
• Ideal Gift for the History Buff
  By A2JLB3BZVF55J5 on 2006-12-14
  It is very unusual to find a history book that plays across the silver screen in one's mind. Not only does Mr Toll provide a fairly comprehensive view of the core events and context from the fledgling years of the US Navy (and the US for that matter), but he weaves in tales that are often harrowing, usually exciting, and always told in such detail and with such well-crafted flow that they are easy to visualize. I bought a dozen copies which I'll be distributing to friends and family this holiday season!
  
  
• Excellent examination of the six frigates
  By AQQLWCMRNDFGI on 2007-04-21
  United States, President, Chesapeake, Congress, Contellation, Constitution. The six frigates, construction having begun under President George Washington's watch, were the core of the first American navy. There were few enough of these ships (compared with the hundreds of British warships), but they had been excellently designed by Joshua Humphreys.
  
  This book tells the story of these frigates through the conflict with the Barbary states, the "Cold War" between those days and the War of 1812 (as French and British ships would sometimes take on American merchantmen). It also tells the story of their various captains, from John Barry to Thomas Truxton to the luckless William Bainbridge to Isaac Hull to Stephen Decatur to the ill-fated William Lawrence, among others.
  
  The book speaks of the difficult process of constructing and launching the ships (talk about cost overruns for military projects today!), their trial by fire in conflict with the Barbary states, and--ultimately--their role in the War of 1812.
  
  Nice, too, is an Appendix, a "Chronology of Later Events: 1815-2005," detailing what happened to the six frigates after the close of the War of 1812.
  
  This is an excellent review of the actions of these six frigates, including both successes and failures, and the larger context, political, social, and economic, in which their service to the republic occurred.
  
  
• A Tour de Force of Naval History
  By ASQGWYYORNOTT on 2007-06-21
  Ian Toll's Six Frigates sets a towering example of thoroughly researched and richly told history, concentrating on the truly epic founding of the US Navy. The book tells the story of the tumultuous debates over the frigate's construction, and carries the reader through the Quasi-war with France immediately following the revolution, the campaigns against the Barbary Pirates waged by President Jefferson, and finally concluding with the War of 1812. Throughout one can clearly see how the young American Navy reflected the character of a bold new nation, equal parts duantless courage and roiling self doubt.
  
  The frigates themselves are technical marvels, designed beautifully and paradoxically by Quaker shipbuilders. They are remarkable in being both powerful and fast, able to outrun enemy ship of the line but also to dominate any rival frigate. These attributes serve them, and the nation, well in future conflicts.
  
  After the brief quasi-war with France the small US Navy finds its first major task the projection of American power to the North African shores of the Mediterranean and Atlantic to fight Barbary pirates and ensure freedom of the seas for American commerce. A task beyond the ability of the Navy to provide decisive victory, a long and mixed blockade of Tripoli results, with both the ignominuous, such as the capture of the USS Philadelphia, and the glorious, such as it's daring recapture by perhaps the greatest American naval hero, Stephen Decatur, occurring in great supply.
  
  After a relatively fruitless expedition to the Mediterranean where the Navy tries sometimes bravely and sometimes laconically to complement executive decisions and diplomatic strategies determined months sailing distance away, the next stage for the US Navy is the War of 1812. It is here that the Navy fully comes into its own, with stunning initial victories in ship to ship engagements with the British. However the American naval strategy of the war is best served by commerce raiding, and the British are successful in keeping the majority of the US frigates at bay, blockaded in harbor. In a war of contrasts and confusing causes and conclusions though the American ship to ship victories do more to create the due respect of the American navy from other powers than any amount of commerce raiding could have achieved, and this defining of American character is perhaps the greatest result of what many have deemed a futile and needless war. The War of 1812 being the war that announced our determination to be a force on the oceans and being the moment from which the United States were referred to in the singular instead of the plural, and with respect instead of consternation.
  
  There is so much detail and breadth in this book one can barely scratch the surface or do it justice in a review. This is great history, but it is told in the style of an action adventure novel. The ship to ship battles are riveting and horrible, and the politics deep and complex. Toll's writing is well paced and enjoyable to read, and he obviously loves his subject.
  
  The only caveat is that this book's focus truly is on the original six frigates of the US Navy, and the overall national and military strategy of the wars in which they fought. As such events such as William Eaton's overland March on Tripoli and Oliver Hazard Perry's battle against the British on Lake Erie are basically one page or less events.
  
  Highly recommended!
  
  
• A Must Read for History Buffs
  By A3DNTV6K5PJZS3 on 2006-12-06
  From the time I first assembled a model sailing ship at the age of 12 until now, I have been fascinated with the frigates of U.S. early history so when I saw this book I immediately bought it. It surpassed all my expectations. Ian Toll does a superb job of relaying history facts in a fast-moving, interesting style. This is a "must-read" for all history buffs. I am already waiting for Toll's next book!
  
  
• Definitive
  By A3AAPE4UUJ5LA4 on 2007-01-14
  Mr Toll's book closes a lot of gaps in the early history of the United States. In addition to his coverage of the US Navy in its infancy, Six Frigates goes a long way in explaining the underlying roots of the US economy and its foreign policy. I would not say revisonist is quite the treatment of the Adams' presidency, rather, Toll has taken an objective look at Adams, as well as Jefferson and Madison, without the subjective and trite explanations of the presidency's of each.
  The economic look is interesting as well. Prior naval histories may speak about the projection of power; Toll is as much concerned with what the US can do with that power. For example, what was the cost of having the Mediterranean closed by the Barbary States, what was the impact of privateers to English shipping?
  Well done.
  
  
• Readible, incredibly well-researched.
  By AM2B2CXN3HX6N on 2007-01-27
  From his biography, Mr. Toll is neither a professional writer or a journalist. That has not kept him from writing a detailed and engaging book about the earliest days of the United States Navy, and the ships that served so well in the service of a nation. As a retired naval officer who has read my share of naval histories, it will be a long time before anyone tops Mr. Toll's research and presentation of this material.
  
  Just a good read.
  
  
• Lives and Times of the Early U.S. Navy
  By A2HRPFBYBZ4RJ5 on 2007-02-09
  Many excellent books on early U.S. history have been published in recent years and Six Frigates deserves to be included in the group both as a supplement and a unique work in its own right. From the presidency of George Washington to the War of 1812, it presents the history of the U.S. Navy and its first steps on the way to naval ascendancy. Six Frigates tells the stories of the ships, battles, and lives and times of the era. Author Ian Toll's writing is well researched, organized, and most important of all, never dull. Starting with the Quasi-War at sea with France in the 1790's and then the actions against the Barbary Pirates, it leads the reader toward the period's climax (for the American navy) in the War of 1812. The American victories are all described in full along with the effect on the spirit on the Americans, the growing naval traditions of the young country, and the hubris and consternation of Britain. The triumphs of the frigates Constitution and United States and several smaller ships are all here and many readers will get a great deal of new information. (One area I wish the book had concentrated more upon, though, were the naval battles in Great Lakes). However, the War of 1812 was no victory for the United States and could have been disastrous. Toll gives equal treatment to the defeats suffered by the United States such as the loss of the frigates Chesapeake and President, the stifling and frustrating effect of the British blockade as the war progressed, and the humiliating capture and burning of Washington D.C.
  
  Six Frigates is more than a story of the battles at sea. The political environment of the early United States is the described in the context of the conflict of the Federalists versus the Jeffersonian Republicans as it related to development of a navy. Such issues as the cost of a navy, entanglement in foreign affairs, support of Britain or France, protection of trade, when to risk lives and treasure, and priorities for the country's growth all played into the arguments within a young nation trying to find a secure, but dynamic place, in a dangerous world. Although the major focus is on the United States, Toll provides a great deal of information on the British navy and gives it a human face (to lesser extent, he does the same for the French and Barbary Pirates). The strategic environment of the era is detailed and provides additional meaning to the individual battles. Descriptions of the causes of the various conflicts the United States found itself in and efforts to make an honorable peace add additional context.
  
  Ian Toll has succeeded brilliantly in producing excellent "popular history" for readers and history buffs such as me. Six Frigates, along with being an excellent account the early years of our navy, is also invaluable as a resource of the lives and times of the era that will appeal to anybody with an interest in the history of the United States and the Age of Fighting Sail. To paraphrase a noted saying about real estate, the secret of Six Frigate's success is "Context, Context, Context."
  
  
  
• History that's fun to read
  By A3A95IRNVQDZAI on 2007-03-01
  History should be fun reading, but let's face it... some authors are about as interesting as dry toast...This book is the exception, this book reads like a novel, but of course, isn't. Toll has taken dry, hard facts and information and combined them into a tome worth staying up at night to get to the next chapter. He then inspires you to look further into other areas which he exposed to you....if we had more like this to choose from, there would be larger book stores and a smaller number of television channels....good job....
  
  
• History, with Lots of Seafaring Excitement
  By A1XXJ6I7K2I7SI on 2008-06-05
  America has had a navy since the American Revolution. General Washington's Continental Army prevailed in that conflict. Ian W. Toll writes that in contrast, "The Continental Navy, with few exceptions, was a wasteful and humiliating fiasco." Only a few decades later, however, by the War of 1812, the United States Navy was a formidable and respected force. Toll has masterfully presented the history of those decades in _Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy_ (Norton). This is Toll's first book; he is a former financial analyst and political speechwriter, but it is big, authoritative, and often exciting. It nicely ties the inchoate navy to the political philosophy of the new nation, and to the world events which compelled America, often reluctantly, to take to the seas in warships. Despite its size, annotations, and enormous bibliography, because of its concentration on personalities and action, Toll's book is less the dry history of the naval theorist than it is the thrilling nautical tales from Patrick O'Brian. (In fact, in compliment to that accomplished storyteller, Toll has incorporated a page of the Jack Aubrey novel _The Fortune of War_ into his account of the 1812 battle between the frigates _Constitution_ and _Java_.)
  
  The colonists had always been enthusiastic about making their fortunes from the sea or commerce upon it, but after the Revolution, they had almost nothing that could be called a navy. They also did not have the Royal Navy to protect their merchantmen. So when American merchant vessels come into the Mediterranean, they were at risk from the pirates of the Barbary states, but when the nation started seriously considering a navy, there was no naval tradition to go by and there were no easy or predictable answers; many argued against having a navy altogether. The continuing capture of vessels by the pirates, however, caused President Washington in 1794 to sign into law the purchase of six innovative warships. Jefferson was the first to deploy the navy into war, against the pirates. The expedition was the first of many victories for the _Constitution_ and the beginning of the reasons that the world needed to take notice of the new nation as a naval and international power. The second great conflict covered here is the War of 1812, fought against the huge and powerful British Navy over its confiscation of American merchant shipping, and its impressment of American sailors into British service. The commanders of the U.S. vessels were too brash to accept the aura of invincibility that the Royal Navy had as its due, and in three single ship duels, the sort of thing at which the British were champions, the Americans got clear victories. The war changed the way the world thought about the United States and how it thought about itself. Churchill wrote that there remained anti-American sentiment in England for several years, "... but the United States was never again refused proper treatment as an independent power." It was only after the war of 1812, Toll reminds us, that Americans started speaking of the United States in the singular rather than in the plural.
  
  Toll is exceptional at showing how human personalities and foibles made a difference in peculiar ways. The first British ambassador to the United States reported in 1803 with disgust that he, while wearing full diplomatic regalia, was received by President Jefferson "standing in slippers down at the heels ... in a state of negligence actually studied." The diplomatic acrimony over this and other slights only ended when war wiped them out. Toll asks, "Could a pair of slippers come between nations?" There are many pages devoted to superstitions. Whatever comfort against fate the superstitions might have given sailors, plenty were positively unhealthy, like the belief that bathing was dangerous because it might wash away your good luck, or that tattoos were protection against venereal disease. Even more surprising are the sections on dueling, which remained popular among hotheaded young American officers long after it was abandoned in other quarters. "The junior naval officer, done up in his high standing collar and gold lace, was as testy and vain as a fighting gamecock," Toll writes, and if a war was not handy, he was eager to show his honor in front of the pistol of a fellow officer. "Not surprisingly, the frequency of dueling appears to have been inversely related to the frequency of naval combat." Any excuse might do; one midshipman took offense when another entered the wardroom with his hat on, and challenged him. Toll even pays a historian's compliment to Teddy Roosevelt, who wrote _The Naval War of 1812_ during his off hours from college and law school; the work on the book gave Roosevelt lessons used "... in the course of his remarkable career as an American statesman and a devoted imperialist." One page after another in this fine history yields curious facts, thrilling scenes of battle, and grim depictions of battle's toll.
  
  
  
• History Done Right
  By A2BSORD6T72I67 on 2007-02-01
  I'll admit I have a soft spot for history and for tales from the age of sail, but this is a good as it gets. Rarely have I encountered a history as well written. Toll's mix of fact, riveting prose, and historical trivia make "Six Frigates" a real page turner - a true rarity even for those who love history. Although the Quasi War, the Barbary Coast conflicts, and the War of 1812 are the central events of the period, they're really more of a backdrop against which the histories of these six ships are told. The Congress, the Constellation, the President, the United States, the Chesapeake, and of course, the Constitution, are the characters, and "Six Frigates" is their biography. - Joe
  
  
• The early history of the United States from the Navy
  By AQ3540NJNST0C on 2007-02-27
  This book tries to seeks to cover three areas of American naval history in its earliest period. It covers the very beginning which includes the debates on whether or not to build vessels and what type they should be. This book seeks to tell an overview of the three parts of the story without going into exhausting detail on anyone part. The debates between the federalists and the republicans are legendary and while not captured fully here enough of the story is told. The second section is dedicated to the fighting on the shores of Tripoli. This tales covers the time from the destruction of the Philadelphia through the heroic efforts to keep the marauders at bay. The final section of the book is dedicated to the War of 1812 and truly shows how Jefferson's party had no idea what to do with a navy. Their ignorance was truly shocking and the war was misconduct from the start. The book reminds us of the victories that were occurring on the sea and make the War of 1812 a little less bleak. That being said we were hopelessly outmatched by British sea power and this book captures it well. Highly enjoyable read for those who want to see the early history of the United States from the perspective of the navy. This is a great addition to the literature.
  
  
• Six Frigates
  By A3VXA8X38CSM0J on 2007-03-15
  It isn't often that one finds a book about less popular subjects without also having to endure wild enthusiasm or hyperbole the minute it's opened. Toll describes the events leading to the acceptance of a sea-going body by our flegling nation with an analytical and sober mind. Blending political machinery with equisitely described sea and ship knowledge, he tells the how a handfull of ships and dedicated men laid the foundation of a nation. Toll is often unsympathetic, yet also unjudgemental. Still, he cannot hide his love for the "wooden ships and iron men" that transformed America from a backwater nonentity to a nation to be reckoned with.
  
  
• Superb!
  By A1LW93HGONNQUU on 2007-04-26
  There are already some excellent reviews of this book--see especially the review of A.G. Corwin. I just want to add my praise. This is a well-researched history book that reads with the flow, pace, and excitement of a novel. Mr. Toll has a flair for describing the major politicians of this era with precision. His one-page description of Jefferson's contradictions was more lucid than Joseph Ellis's whole book. The tensions between the Jeffersonians--no internal taxes, no standing military... and the Federalists--national cooperation and international projection of power--are so well done as to be a major contribution in and of themselves. It becomes clear that the United States developed a Navy in jerks and starts and spasms, as life made even Thomas Jefferson have 'other plans.'
  
  
• Frickn' Figates
  By A1BVYFPZ0ZAYYV on 2007-05-25
  Six Frigates has a unique focus- following the early U.S. Navy through the lives of the first six frigates built by the United States. As the book progresses we follow the ships, the events and the people behind and aboard them, from construction to service in three wars. Over all a good book, well written in terms of being a good balance of narrative and scholarly history. Nice breif bibliography in the begining and a great one at the end.
  
  Only negative criticisms I have are as follows: the aforementioned focus of the book seems to disappeared when we get to the middle of the War of 1812. We get several pages on the Battle of New Orleans in which none of the six frigates took part but nothing of the Battle of Lake Erie- also not fought b the frigates but by many of their crews sent north. Also, we get no closure in the text itself on life of the ships after 1815- it is sort of contained in a "Timeline of Later Events" after the Epilogue. I would have preferred to have a final chapter(s) which followed the ships and showed their use in terms of developing naval strategy and tactics in the 19th century. Finally, most of the Epilogue is about Theodore Roosevelt who had nothing to do with the titular ships but wrote a book on the naval aspects of the War of 1812. This seemed out of place.
  
  The slight negatives are outweighed but the over all quality and readability of Six Frigates. Hard to know also if the negatives are author related or editorial decisions. Would have liked some maps as well.
  
  Look forward to the author's next work.
  
  
  
• A very well integrated and entertaining introduction!
  By A3VR6V9P3KH526 on 2007-01-12
  Ian Toll does a wonderful job of threading together, in a more-or-less chronological fashion, the story of the birth of the Navy and the twists of fate that would take it from being a stumbling infant to being the "L'Enfante Terrible" of the Atlantic! His recounting of the Barbary Campaigns and the War of 1812 are the strongest sections, leaving me wanting more and more detail! Excellent arrangement and dramatic effect!
  
  He incorporates little bits and pieces of detail that help flesh out the picture of the US Navy around the beginning of the 19th century. He dedicates a significant number of pages to the debate over the design of the core six frigates... yet, once they're out of the drydocks, he sets sail with them, leaving behind the drydocks (or, in the case of the USS President (?), most of the ship's keel!).
  
  Also, in a FASCINATING bit of background relation, Toll tosses in memorandi and reports from many of the big names from the day detailing everything from interpersonal relationships to plans for action to the costs and requisitions involved in building/operating the nascent navy. I could go on but your best bet is to snag this book and see for yourselves. It's a very addicting read!
  
  I commend this book to anyone.
  
  

• Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign 1941-1945
• The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour
• Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of her Survivors
• Cochrane: The Real Master and Commander
• Union 1812: The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence