"Jefferson's War is a fascinating and readable story of how America
fought and won its first war on terrortwo centuries ago."Evan Thomas, author of
John Paul Jones and assistant managing editor, Newsweek

Two centuries ago, without congressional or public debate, a president who is thought of
today as peaceable, Thomas Jefferson, launched America's first war on foreign soil, a war
against terror. The enemy was Muslim; the war was waged unconventionally, with
commandos, native troops, and encrypted intelligence, and launched from foreign bases.

For nearly two hundred years, the Barbary pirates had haunted the Mediterranean, enslaving
tens of thousands of Europeans and extorting millions of dollars from their countries in a
mercenary holy war against Christendom. Sailing in sleek corsairs built for speed and plunder,
the Barbary pirates attacked European and American merchant shipping with impunity,
triumphing as much by terror as force of arms.

The author traces the events leading to Jefferson's belief that peace with the Barbary States
and respect from Europe could be achieved only through the "medium of war."

Joseph Wheelan, a graduate of the University of Wyoming and University of Colorado-Denver, was for twenty-six years an editor and reporter for the Associated Press and the Casper Star-Tribune (Wyoming). He and his wife Pat live in Cary, North Carolina.

Patrick Cullen, a native of Massachusetts, is a graduate of The Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C., where he continues to live and work in the theater.