Shelf Life: Distant Echoes

IN Victory in Tripoli: How America’s War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation (Wiley, 276 pp., $24.95), Washington-based writer Joshua E. London tells an exciting story of the War on Terror-circa 1800. The Mediterranean pirates were demanding tribute from U.S. vessels; little over a decade into the existence of the new federal government, an American administration struggled over how to respond. President Thomas Jefferson understood, early on, what was necessary: “I know that nothing will stop the eternal increase of demands from these pirates but the presence of an armed force.” But there would be much failure and frustration before victory finally came. Indeed, while the “Shores of Tripoli” are remembered to this day in the Marine Corps hymn, America’s triumph there in 1805 did not put an end to the pirates’terrorism; further U.S. force would prove necessary. London’s fascinating account gives us cause for hope that even long, twilight struggles can, after twists and turns of ugly politics, end in victory.

Is the European megastate destined to be America’s rival, or even enemy? Rockwell A. Schnabel, U.S. ambassador to the European Union from 2001 to 2005, is among the most astute observers of European affairs, and he urges American policymakers to resist Europhobia. In The Next Superpower? The Rise of Europe and Its Challenge to the United States (Rowman & Littlefield, 199 pp., $22.95), written with Francis X. Rocca, Schnabel says not just that European integration is

About the Author

Michael Potemra

Michael Potemra was a literary editor for National Review.

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IN Victory in Tripoli: How America’s War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation (Wiley, 276 pp., $24.95), Washington-based writer Joshua E. London tells an exciting story of the War on Terror-circa 1800. The Mediterranean pirates were demanding tribute from U.S. vessels; little over a decade into the existence of the new federal government, an American administration struggled over how to respond. President Thomas Jefferson understood, early on, what was necessary: “I know that nothing will stop the eternal increase of demands from these pirates but the presence of an armed force.” But there would be much failure and frustration before victory finally came. Indeed, while the “Shores of Tripoli” are remembered to this day in the Marine Corps hymn, America’s triumph there in 1805 did not put an end to the pirates’terrorism; further U.S. force would prove necessary. London’s fascinating account gives us cause for hope that even long, twilight struggles can, after twists and turns of ugly politics, end in victory.

Is the European megastate destined to be America’s rival, or even enemy? Rockwell A. Schnabel, U.S. ambassador to the European Union from 2001 to 2005, is among the most astute observers of European affairs, and he urges American policymakers to resist Europhobia. In The Next Superpower? The Rise of Europe and Its Challenge to the United States (Rowman & Littlefield, 199 pp., $22.95), written with Francis X. Rocca, Schnabel says not just that European integration is