The Prisoners of Algiers: An Account of the Forgotten American-Algerian War, 1785-1797 by H.G. Barnby
Requirements: .PDF reader, 37.2 MB
Overview: The book deals with a curious historical episode between 1785 and 1797 when America and Algeria were technically “at war”, though no battles were fought and there were no hostilities except for the seizure by the Algerians of American merchant ships in the Mediterranean. At this time the United States had little money or diplomatic experience and no navy; but with more than a hundred American seamen held as slaves in Algiers, and merchants and shipowners demanding protection, the administration at Philadelphia was forced to act. Extended and (on the American side) inept negotiations took place, with the aim (on the Algerian side) of getting the highest possible price for a peace treaty. Meanwhile the crews of these ships were put to hard labour or kept as domestic slaves by the Dey of Algiers. One prisoner, James Cathcart, rose to the position of the Dey’s Chief Christian Secretary, and much of the lively detail of this unusual story, which also draws on the official correspondence between the U.S. Department of State and the various ambassadors and envoys sent to Algiers, comes from the letters and diary of this ‘capable, energetic, tactless and self-opinionated’ Irish-American.
Genre: Non-Fiction > History
Download Instructions:
http://gestyy.com/w9Pchl
http://gestyy.com/w9Pchb
http://gestyy.com/w9PchE
