John Paul Jones

Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy

By: Evan Thomas

Narrated by: Dan Cashman

Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

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' 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.

©2003 Evan Thomas (P)2003 Tantor Media, Inc.

Critic reviews

"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)
"With the skill appropriate to a polished journalist, Thomas chronicles the short, but glorious, life of a brilliant, but frustratingly difficult, man, who was the first American naval hero....This is a fine account of the life of an admirable, but deeply flawed, man." (Booklist)

Swashbuckler or Saviour

I enjoy reading history, both non-fiction and historical novels. While I am not in a position to question the accuracy of the biography presented by Evan Thomas, I believe he has taken on the task well and shown many sides of the life and times of John Paul Jones. JPJ is one of those characters in our past whom we tend to remember only by the few sounds bites which become imfamous. The rest being mostly captured in our vague imaginations. This book helped immensely to put the father of the American navy into perspective for me. Even more so by the outstanding narrations which were intoned with fluent and believable accents and personalities. I enjoyed the read, a bit long towards the end, but recommended to anyone who enjoys historical biographies.

Great read, good narration.

Very informative. Narrated well. Very well put together. I would buy this again, and would recommend it to a friend.

Very Good Account of JPK’s Life

The biography of John Paul Jones is well researched and contains a large volume of information. There are exciting accounts of his actions at sea, but then the book falls into repeated accounts of his character flaws containing too many quotes that the narrator is forced to re-create Jones in a Scottish accent.

A man of glory and honor

I truly enjoyed this book. Being a sailor for 33 years and a historical reenactor it put times and places in
Prospective . I will more than likely listen to this book again.
I remain your humble servant
Matthew D Smith

Solid book

Good book that cuts through the over idolized version of JPJ and looks at him through objective eyes. I enjoyed the book and found it to be very detailed and interesting

Accents

The narrator gets all his accents confused. They are so bad that it is a major distraction in listening to the story.

Good book.

great narrator, battle scence are epic but few in number. good ship to ship compares without be too detailed.

John Paul Jones- an under-rated patriot

Captain John Paul was quite a man. He was thin skinned and irascible, but indefatigable in his quest for the United States freedom. He was far too often over-looked and taken advantage of by the Continental Congress and Naval "establishment". He was unappreciated until years after his death. Too often are great men dismissed, until they're gone. He was a fighting man like few others.

Over too soon.

Riveting. Sweeping. An expansive yet highly readable study that unmasks the myth and humanizes the legend.

Good book, terrible narration

This is an interesting biography of John Paul Jones, but it is nearly ruined by the narrator. He mangles English pronunciation, not to mention the French (which would be more forgivable). In attempting to give Jones a Scottish accent, he produces a very bad American version of an Irish accent. Buy the book and read it; but don't subject yourself to this particular audio.