Author: James Tertius de Kay
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439119295
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 336
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Book Description
Stephen Decatur was one of the most awe-inspiring officers of the entire Age of Fighting Sail. A real-life American naval hero in the early nineteenth century, he led an astonishing life, and his remarkable acts of courage in combat made him one of the most celebrated figures of his era. Decatur's dazzling exploits in the Barbary Wars propelled him to national prominence at the age of twenty-five. His dramatic capture of HMS Macedonian in the War of 1812, and his subsequent naval and diplomatic triumphs in the Mediterranean, secured his permanent place in the hearts of his countrymen. Handsome, dashing, and fearless, his crews worshipped him, presidents lionized him, and an adoring public heaped fresh honors on him with each new achievement. James Tertius de Kay is one of our foremost naval historians. In A Rage for Glory, the first new biography of Decatur in almost seventy years, he recounts Decatur's life in vivid colors. Drawing on material unavailable to previous biographers, he traces the origins of Decatur's fierce patriotism ("My country...right or wrong!"), chronicles Decatur's passionate love affair with Susan Wheeler, and provides new details of Decatur's tragic death in a senseless duel of honor, secretly instigated by the backroom machinations of jealous fellow officers determined to ruin him. His death left official Washington in such shock that his funeral became a state occasion, attended by friends who included former President James Madison, current President James Monroe, Chief Justice John Marshall, and ten thousand more. Decatur's short but crowded life was an astonishing epic of hubris, romance, and high achievement. Only a handful of Americans since his time have ever come close to matching his extraordinary glamour and brilliance.
Author: Leonard F. Guttridge
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780765307026
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 318
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Book Description
"Decatur not only proved dauntless on the quarterdeck but amazingly effective in Mediterranean diplomacy. His spectacular dealings with Islamic powers presaged America's twenty-first century involvement in the region." "Readers will also learn the identity of the woman he forsook for a sophisticated beauty pursued by suitors as varied as Napoleon Bonaparte's brother and Aaron Burr. Through freshly discovered documents, many official, some intensely personal, biographer Leonard Guttridge traces the elements that sped Decatur inexorably into the shadow of murder."--BOOK JACKET.
Author: Peggy Allen Towns
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1546226486
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 188
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Book Description
What is the picture of inequality? Is it race, gender, ethnicity, age, or place? Time and time again, our American history gives us the answer to that age-old question. In 1933, attorney Samuel Leibowitz argued that it was disparity in the jury pool and the innocence of nine. Sadly, the horrible malignancy of racism continues to exist and is the primary root of many prejudices and inequalities in our country today. This powerful historical narrative paints an amazing picture of the color line and the incredible bravery of people who took a stand for justice. The author resurrects the voices and the infamous case of the Scottsboro Nine. Their unmasked stories unfold against the backdrop of an economically depressed town, energized with an inferno of bigotry and violence. This groundbreaking research presents the courage of fearless men who rattled Americas conscience by challenging decades of discrimination and injustices within Alabamas legal system. On the other hand, the book reveals the sentiment of those who embraced the Old Souths ideology of inequality and exclusiveness, which put at risk the lives of nine innocent victims, young men who changed Americas judicial system. Fiat justitia rual coelomthis is Latin for Let justice be done though the heavens may fall. These are words that my grandfather, Judge James E. Horton, learned at his mothers knee. It seems he followed those wise words as he set aside the verdict and death sentence and ordered a new trial for Haywood Patterson. Though his decision cost him the next election, there were never any regrets. John Temple Graves, a Birmingham columnist, wrote of him, He does the right thing as he sees it, with no particular sense of the scene about him, but with an enormous sense of right-doing, ancestors gone and example-bound descendants to come. His social conscience is vertical rather than horizontal. We are the beneficiaries of his vertical conscience and I hope we will all strive to live by his example (Kathy Horton Garrett, Judge Hortons granddaughter).
Author: Edwin Palmer Hoyt
Publisher: Thorndike Press
ISBN: 9780783888330
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 196
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Book Description
Lt. Stephen Decatur, U.S.N., was the captain of one of two small American ships anchored off the seaport city of Tripoli on a February night in 1804. For years, the Barbary Pirates had been based here, a plague to shipping. Now they had captured an American frigate, imprisoned her captain, and planned to use the ship against the Americans! But Decatur had planned well for this mission. Here is the true, exciting and dramatic story of Decatur's exploits that cold winter night -- exploits which Lord Nelson called the most daring of the Barbary War. No one thought he could achieve his goals and live to fight again ...
Author: Theodore Roosevelt
Publisher: Franklin Classics
ISBN: 9780342577903
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 398
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Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Author: Doug Decatur
Publisher: ACTA Publications
ISBN: 9780879464127
Category : Baseball players
Languages : en
Pages : 189
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Book Description
Few topics in baseball elicit the same passionate responses from fans as player trades. In attempt to bring some objectivity to such an emotional topic, Doug Decatur, a former statistical consultant for the Reds, Brewers, Cubs and Astros, uses Win Shares, a stat developed by the famous Bill James, to determine the best and worst trades in baseball history. He also provides red flags to look for when evaluating future trades.
Author: Samuel Putnam Waldo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 332
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Book Description
Author: Samuel Putnam Waldo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 320
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Book Description
Author: Mark Lardas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1849088322
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 147
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Book Description
On a dark night in 1804, Lt. Stephen Decatur and a team of hand-picked men, slipped into Tripoli harbor in a small boat. Their target was the USS Philadelphia. Captured by the Barbary pirates four months previously, the Philadelphia had been refitted to fight against her former masters. Decatur's mission was to either recapture the ship, or failing that, burn her to the waterline. This book recounts one of the greatest raids in American military history, an event that propelled Stephen Decatur to international renown, and which prompted Horatio Nelson to declare it 'the most bold and daring act of the age'.
Author: Spencer C Tucker
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 161251510X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 282
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Book Description
Brave, energetic, intensely patriotic, Stephen Decatur is America's first great naval hero after John Paul Jones. His short and dramatic life is a story of triumph and tragedy told by the noted historian and author of some twenty books, Spencer Tucker. Decatur's raid into Tripoli Harbor in 1804 to burn the Philadelphia, a prized U.S. warship captured when it ran aground during the Barbary Wars, earned him international fame. An admiring Horatio Nelson described the feat as "the most bold and daring act of the age." Explaining the tremendous impact Decatur's action had on the early U.S. Navy, the author notes that it set a standard of audacity and courage for generations of future naval officers. At the age of twenty-five, Decatur was promoted to captain, becoming the youngest naval officer ever to attain that rank in the U.S. Navy. The book fully examines Decatur's astonishing achievements as it chronicles his rapid rise in the Navy, including his command of the Constitution and the United States, during the War of 1812, when he captured the British frigate Macedonian off the Azores. The book also recounts the cruise that many call his greatest triumph: Decatur sailed into the Mediterranean with a nine-ship American squadron to punish the dey of Algiers for taking American merchant shipping, securing peace with Algiers and keeping other Barbary states quiescent. Lionized by a grateful American public upon his return, Decatur offered a toast at a reception in his honor that is now legendary, "Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong!" In describing Decatur's life, the author also examines Decatur's relationship with James Barron, a Navy captain who fatally shot Decatur during a 1820 duel.
