Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger - ADVISABLE

Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The War that Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger, 158 pages.  NON-FICTION Viking (Penguin), 2020. $18.  

Content: Language: G; Mature Content: G: Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS – ADVISABLE  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE    

Shortly after the United States had gained it’s freedom from Britain they faced a new threat from North African countries.  Unable to safely trade with Europe, the United States was threatened by pirates as well as a financial burden that they needed the trade to alleviate.  John Adams proposed that the U.S. pay the hefty bounty to the African countries (as other European countries had done) for safe passage, but Thomas Jefferson sent the first United States Navy to negotiate the United States’ freedom on the seas.  

I had never heard of this event in history, so I found this account fascinating.  This adaptation from Kilmeade’s longer novel sticks to the main parts of the story but also gives enough information about the different men to make it interesting. I enjoyed the action and the history.  There are some deaths, but they are not gruesome.  

Reviewer, C. Peterson