{"product_id":"george-washingtons-secret-navy-how-the-american-revolution-went-to-sea-9780071493895","title":"George Washington's Secret Navy: How the American Revolution Went to Sea","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn 1775 General George Washington secretly armed a handful of small ships and sent them to sea against the world's mightiest navy.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the author of the critically acclaimed \u003ci\u003eBenedict Arnold's Navy\u003c\/i\u003e, here is the story of how America's first commander-in-chief--whose previous military experience had been entirely on land--nursed the fledgling American Revolution through a season of stalemate by sending troops to sea. Mining previously overlooked sources, James L. Nelson's swiftly moving narrative shows that George Washington deliberately withheld knowledge of his tiny navy from the Continental Congress for more than two critical months, and that he did so precisely because he knew Congress would not approve.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMr. Nelson has taken an episode that occupies no more than a few paragraphs in other histories of the Revolution and, with convincing research and vivid narrative style, turned it into an important, marvelously readable book.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003cb\u003eThomas Fleming, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Perils of Peace: America's Struggle to Survive after Yorktown\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A gripping and fascinating book about the daring and heroic mariners who helped George Washington change the course of history and create a nation. Nelson wonderfully brings to life a largely forgotten but critically important piece of America's past.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003cb\u003eEric Jay Dolin, author of \u003ci\u003eLeviathan: The History of Whaling in America\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The political machinations are as exciting as the blood-stirring ship actions in this meticulously researched story of the shadowy beginnings of American might on the seas.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003cb\u003eJohn Druett, author of \u003ci\u003eIsland of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJames L. Nelson\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eBenedict Arnold's Navy\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as several novels that take place during the age of the sailing navies. His first book of nonfiction was \u003ci\u003eReign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"International Marine Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50318049345810,"sku":"9780071493895","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_6c59bb50-2948-40ba-a457-ef19343126e8.jpg?v=1727546569","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/george-washingtons-secret-navy-how-the-american-revolution-went-to-sea-9780071493895","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}