{"product_id":"book-acd2","title":"Six Frigates","description":"Before the ink was dry on the Constitution of the United States, the establishment of a permanent military had become the most divisive issue facing the young republic. Would a standing army be the thin end of dictatorship? Would a navy protect American commerce from the vicious depredations of the Barbary pirates, or would it drain the treasury and provoke hostilities with the great powers? How large a navy would suffice? The founders -- particularly Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, and Adams -- debated these questions fiercely and switched sides more than once. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In 1794, President Washington signed legislation authorizing the construction of six heavy frigates. The unique combination of power, speed and tactical versatility -- smaller than a battleship and larger than a sloop -- that all navies sent on their most daring missions. It was the first great appropriation of federal money and the first demonstration of the power of the new central government, calling for the creation of entirely new domestic industries, and the extraction of natural resources from the backwoods of Maine to the uninhabited coastal islands of Georgia. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e From the complicated politics of the initial decision, through the cliffhanger campaign against Tripoli, to the war that shook the world in 1812, Ian W. Toll tells this grand tale with the political insight of \u003ci\u003eFounding Brothers\u003c\/i\u003e and a narrative flair worthy of Patrick O'Brian. In the words of Henry Adams, the 1812 encounter between \u003ci\u003eUSS Constitution\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHMS Guerriere\u003c\/i\u003e \"raised the United States in one half hour to the rank of a first class power in the world.\"","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster Audio","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49348209901872,"sku":"BDacd2","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD [40]","offer_id":49348209934640,"sku":"40acd2","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/303678-acd2-Square.jpg?v=1734216180","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-acd2","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}