James Durand, An Able Seaman of 1812, was (when it came out in 1820) entitled The Life and Adventures of James R. Durand, During a Period of Fifteen Years, from 1801 to 1816: in which Time He Was Impressed on Board the British Fleet, and Held in Detestable Bondage for More than Seven Years. Including an Account of a Voyage to the ( Read more... )

         I was given (thank you, Chris) a copy of Medieval Seafarers of India, by Lakshmi Subramanian, and since it's a subject I'm interested in it made its way quickly to the top of the pile.
         This is a 152-page exploration of a vast subject, very much a secondary source, and the title is misleading. I would guess that more than half ( Read more... )

         When I was in the Smithsonian last year, the American History part, I found Ship in the bookstore. It's a lavishly illustrated "history" of ships, of the kind that I generally pass over, because the pictures are wonderful but the text is often amateur. But this was a Smithsonian imprint, and a DK imprint (and they've turned out some ( Read more... )

          I found the latest completed book, part of my daily dose of military history, in the Historic New Orleans Collection shop on Jackson Square; and it's a gem. Entitled A British Eyewitness at the Battle of New Orleans, The Memoir of Royal Navy Admiral Robert Aitchison, 1808-1827, Gene A Smith, ed., it's a short memoir of a gentleman who was ( Read more... )

    My latest completed work was actually read to me, by my wife, while on long driving trips. I'd read it in my youth, and re-read parts since then, but she never had. We started it before I was assigned to teach American Literature 1800-1915, but it ended up being part of my preparation.
     The book in question is Richard Henry Dana's classic ( Read more... )