Gary's Reviews > The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines & the Secret Mission of 1805

One of the tragic aspects of any forgotten war is that in being forgotten the lessons of that conflict are inevitably lost. That loss represents a serious failure of civilization, for there is truth in the now cliche words of George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." The United States has repeated the errors of the First Barbary War many times in the centuries since. Indeed, it would not be outrageous to suggest that this early conflict set the tone for American activities abroad that would continue until the present day, and that the failures of the past have been repeated again and again right up until we turn on our nightly news.

Those who have paid attention to modern history will see many parallels between events in living memory and this, the first "foreign war" of the United States. Elements that echo the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam; the support and then abandonment of various "freedom fighters" in Afghanistan, the changeability of irregular, native troops; the calls for war to protect commerce blended with the ideals of freedom all ring familiar to the modern reader of American history. The events of the First Barbary War are also familiar in terms of the characters and motivations of the participants as well: patriotic soldiers bent on self-sacrifice and hardship--all in naive anticipation of just treatment by a grateful nation; perfidious diplomats who undermine the noble aims of idealistic warriors--but whose self-serving motives are often in the long run more lasting and profound, the aloof and detached chief executive whose feigned interest or disinterest masks little more than a desire for deniability when things go wrong, and an opportunity to take credit for others' successes. Mr. Zacks draws all these elements in to tell a story that is at once exciting in its particulars but depressingly repetitive in its scope and history.

Within that focus, Zacks does an excellent job of telling a broad, inclusive history with details ranging from the experience of the lowest private to the actions of President Thomas Jefferson. However, even with that range of attention, William Eaton (the American patriot and soldier who led the ground forces that captured Derne--the first American foreign victory) is the undeniable hero of this history; his character and actions touch upon every aspect of the book. In fact, this book would be better served with a title that reflected that content. Though Thomas Jefferson and the United States Marines do figure prominently in the book, it really should be called William Eaton: The Adventures of America's First Covert Commander or something to that effect. Such a title would have been more accurate to the actual contents of the book.

The only other critique I'll offer up for this book is that Mr. Zack's vocabulary, though current, is sometimes jarring on the sensibilities of the reader, and really does little to convey the facts other than to replace the terminology of the time with more modern, but equally obfuscatory language of the present day. Using modern (and somewhat Orwellian) terms such as "regime change" or "covert op" to describe a foreign led rebellion backed by the United States is sometimes awkward to read when juxtaposed with the quotes of the participants who use terms like "noble effort" and "the honour of our nation" in a comparable way. Though the facts are presented clearly and distinctly by Mr. Zack, the lesson of history and any possible hope not to repeat them, rests on the ability of historians to call things out for what they are, not revitalize them using upgraded terms.

Leaving that up to the reader in this case does undermine some of the significance of this work, but not so drastically as to ruin it by any means. The remainder of the prose, quotes and narrative both, are composed with reliable and readable language. Mr. Zacks can tell a story well, with both brevity where it is called for, and detail where it is needed. He presents the voices of his principles neatly and weaves their quotes into his own prose with considerable skill so that we get both his interpretations (almost universally fair in my estimation) along with the voices of those he describing.

I can enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone interested in American foreign policy, the history of our conflicts abroad or simply a biography of a forgotten hero of the Republic.