John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American NavyThe New York Times bestseller from master biographer Evan Thomas brings to life the tumultuous story of the father of the American Navy. John Paul Jones, at sea and in the heat of the battle, was the great American hero of the Age of Sail. He was to history what Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey and C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower are to fiction. Ruthless, indomitable, clever; he vowed to sail, as he put it, “in harm’s way.” Evan Thomas’s minute-by-minute re-creation of the bloodbath between Jones’s Bonhomme Richard and the British man-of-war Serapis off the coast of England on an autumn night in 1779 is as gripping a sea battle as can be found in any novel. Drawing on Jones’s correspondence with some of the most significant figures of the American Revolution—John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson—Thomas’s biography teaches us that it took fighters as well as thinkers, men driven by dreams of personal glory as well as high-minded principle, to break free of the past and start a new world. Jones’s spirit was classically American. |
From inside the book
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... America 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover as follows: Thomas, Evan—date. John Paul Jones: sailor, hero, father of the American Navy/Evan Thomas, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index ...
... America 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover as follows: Thomas, Evan—date. John Paul Jones: sailor, hero, father of the American Navy/Evan Thomas, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index ...
Page 3
... American flag and bearing the body of John Paul Jones was paraded down the avenues of Paris. A squadron of French cuirassiers, in glittering helmets and breastplates, led the way, followed by a column of 500 U.S. Navy bluejackets. The ...
... American flag and bearing the body of John Paul Jones was paraded down the avenues of Paris. A squadron of French cuirassiers, in glittering helmets and breastplates, led the way, followed by a column of 500 U.S. Navy bluejackets. The ...
Page 5
Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy Evan Thomas. waistcoats of the British Royal Navy to the dowdy red ones ... America. Still, over the years, his popular legend grew. In cheap penny chapbooks, British children in the late ...
Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy Evan Thomas. waistcoats of the British Royal Navy to the dowdy red ones ... America. Still, over the years, his popular legend grew. In cheap penny chapbooks, British children in the late ...
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... American sense, a self-made man whose raw drive and talent broke through his era's walls of class and place. His rise mirrors that of his adopted country and its restless people, the ascendancy of the New World over the Old. Herman ...
... American sense, a self-made man whose raw drive and talent broke through his era's walls of class and place. His rise mirrors that of his adopted country and its restless people, the ascendancy of the New World over the Old. Herman ...
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... American prisoners. For all his avowals of principle, Jones was an opportunist. He was cunning. He understood the power of psychological warfare, that the civilian population could be terrorized by attacks on their homeland. It pained ...
... American prisoners. For all his avowals of principle, Jones was an opportunist. He was cunning. He understood the power of psychological warfare, that the civilian population could be terrorized by attacks on their homeland. It pained ...
Contents
1 | |
30 | |
Chapter Four | 67 |
Chapter Five | 87 |
Chapter | 113 |
Chapter Seven | 137 |
Chapter Eight | 168 |
Chapter | 199 |
Chapter Twelve | 235 |
Chapter Thirteen | 259 |
Chapter Fourteen | 279 |
Chapter Fifteen | 300 |
Acknowledgments | 313 |
Bibliography | 361 |
Photo Credits | 383 |
Chapter Eleven | 215 |
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Common terms and phrases
able aboard Adams Alliance American appeared arms arrived Bancroft battle become began Benjamin Franklin boat Bonhomme Richard British called captain carried close coast command Commissioners Committee Congress Continental crew deck enemy England English feelings fight fire fleet force France Franklin French frigate give guns hands head honor John Paul John Paul Jones Jones wrote Jones's JPJP JPJto July June L O C ladies Landais later letter Lieutenant London March Marine master Morison morning Morris naval navy needed never night officers once ordered Paris Pearson port Potemkin prisoners privateer prize Providence quarterdeck Ranger reported Robert Royal Russian sail sailors sent Serapis ship ship's side squadron Thomas tried turned wanted warship wind wish wounded