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    John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy
    John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy
    John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy
    Audiobook13 hours

    John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy

    Written by Evan Thomas

    Narrated by Dan Cashman

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    John Paul Jones, at sea and in the heat of battle, was the great American hero of the Age of Sail. He was to history what Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey and C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower are to fiction. Ruthless, indomitable, clever; he vowed to sail, as he put it, "in harm's way."

    John Paul Jones is more than a great sea story. Jones is a character for the ages. John Adams called him the "most ambitious and intriguing officer in the American Navy." The renewed interest in the Founding Fathers reminds us of the great men who made this country, but John Paul Jones teaches us that it took fighters as well as thinkers, men driven by dreams of personal glory as well as high-minded principle to break free of the past and start a new world. Jones's spirit was classically American. Evan Thomas brings his skills as a biographer to this complex, protean figure whose life and rise are both thrilling as a tale of dauntless courage and revealing about the birth of a nation.

    "Superlative... Both Jones and his latest biographer can justly be praised as masters of their respective crafts" ~ Publishers Weekly

    "Evan Thomas captures all the incongruities, vanities, blazing ambition, and phenomenal courage of his subject" ~ David McCullough, author of John Adams
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateSep 1, 2003
    ISBN9781400171040
    Author

    Evan Thomas

    Evan Thomas is the author of ten books, including the New York Times bestsellers JOHN PAUL JONES, SEA OF THUNDER, and FIRST: SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR. Thomas was a writer, correspondent, and editor for thirty-three years at Time and Newsweek, including ten years as Newsweek’s Washington bureau chief. He appears regularly on many TV and radio talk shows. Thomas has taught at Harvard and Princeton.

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    Reviews for John Paul Jones

    3.5/5

    67 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Interesting book on early history of the US Navy! and historical information.
    • 5/5
      More like me - John Paul Jones. This book delves into his frailties as a man. Even without the myth it is amazing how much he accomplished in 45 short years.

      Why was Horus Porter obsessed with locating The Father of the American Navy and bring him home to be honored over a hundred years past his demise. This book makes a man realize how changing the world started in 1775.
    • 4/5
      A perfectly serviceable popular biography of John Paul Jones, very useful as an introduction. Not outstanding, but completely acceptable, and Thomas does well to bust a few Jones myths that have sprung up over the years.
    • 3/5
      The summary is correct: the description of Jones' engagement on USS Bonhomme Richard with HMS Serapis was indeed engaging. However, the minutiae of Jones' incessant, prigish, whining about his career must have gotten on the nerves of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, etc. A self described naval strategist, he had many opinions which he freely shared with members of Congress or anyone who would listen. I had a hard time with this book because it droned on about relationships with count-this and duke-that. It took me months to finish listening.
    • 4/5
      Straightforward, revealing biography of JPG, a deeply flawed character who, nevertheless made his mark on the history of the USA during the fight for independence. No Nelson or even a Nimitz, JPG never commanded a fleet or achieved flag rank but in ship to ship combat he excelled, despite often craven fellow officers and less than willing crews."After having been under-appreciated, Jones has been over-mythologised", according to author Evan Thomas but, when all is said and done, he served the US navy well, taking the fight to the Royal Navy when few others did.
    • 4/5
      A super book on Jones and naval warfare.I’ve always enjoyed reading books about the revolutionary period. I find this era of history to be fascinating and very interesting. So, this book was made to order for me. The book was certainly more instructive in many ways, is the personal history of John Paul Jones than some other books I have read. The author reveals that Jones was a courageous, brilliant, but flawed individual. The author is a gifted biographer and historian. This book was a great book to read, and it is well written and researched. If you want an insight into naval warfare during the revolutionary war then I think this book would be a benefit. Highly recommend.
    • 3/5
      A well researched, surprisingly easy to read biography of the man credited with being the "Father of the American Navy". Now acknowledged to be rather a legend in his own mind, Thomas carefully debunks some of the sayings and myths that have attached themselves to this colorful and talented sailor, while still showing the genius of his strategic thinking.His attitudes, accomplishments, judgments and temper tantrums are spelled out to put this flamboyant hero in the proper niche of history. We are treated to his thoughts on everything from planting crops to sailing, from proper uniforms to correct food, and along the way get to glimpse the American Revolution from an often overlooked perspective. It's interesting enough for those with a compelling fascination with the Navy and its beginnings. For others, it is well written enough to be worth at least a look see.I read and listened to this on audio. For this one I'd recommend the written word. I found the narrator's Scottish accent (used whenever he was quoting Jones) very off-putting.