A Boston-based American Captured by Muslim Pirates - an Editorial Review of "An American Slave in Barbary"

Book Blurb:

A Homeric American Novel

An American Slave in Barbary: The Odyssey of Winston Prescott Jones is the story of a first-generation American student whose commercial ship is captured in the summer of 1801 by Muslim pirates. He spends the next sixteen years as a captive in Algiers. He rises to become a confidant to the Dey of Algiers, who is desperate to know what made the American shopkeepers and farmers believe they could defeat the British war machine, and how they intended to rule themselves.

In the genre created by Homer, it is a tale of suffering, sin, and redemption, and a young man's epic journey to regain his freedom.

Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/cgYHz

Author Bio:

Larry Kelley's life was utterly changed by 9/11. On the day after the attacks, on his way to work, he was struck by the sudden realization that World War III had commenced. Like most Americans he desperately wanted to find out who were these people who attacked us, what could ordinary citizens do to join the battle and how can those plotting to kill us in future attacks be defeated.

Mr. Kelley has written scores of columns on the dangers of western complacency. In his tenure as a political commentary writer, he has made a significant impact. His feature articles have appeared in the Piedmont Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Human Events, and Townhall Magazine. Two of his articles were featured on the cover of Townhall Magazine. He wrote an Op-ed which appeared in the liberal San Francisco Chronicle a month before Obama was inaugurated entitled, A Second New Deal is a Recipe for Disaster. Two and half years later, on August 6, 2011, the Chronicle ran the front-page headline--S&P Downgrades U.S. Credit Rating.

The result of ten years of research, his book, Lessons from Fallen Civilizations, contains the answers the above questions he asked in the wake of 9/11. His book has already received critical praise as a saga which begins on the plane of Marathon in 490 BC and whose main character is Western Civilization.

Editorial Review:

Winston Prescott Jones is out on a skiff with his brother Robbie in the Boston Channel on the east coast of the what is now the USA. It’s 1801, and the young men are discussing Winston’s study at Harvard. This riveting tale commences in 1800, with two brothers out on a skiff in the Boston Channel, on the east coast of the USA. That brotherly idyll becomes a distant memory as the narrative changes, moving forward in time to the brothers on the open ocean, with their sailing ship overrun by pirates. This catastrophic encounter changes the course of Winston’s life as he survives against the odds, mourning his brother and trying to assimilate into the Ottoman Empire.

Winston is a traveller, and the book is replete with rich descriptions of people and places that many of us can only dream about. He is in the service of the Dey of Algiers (the Supreme Ruler) but at the mercy of turbulent times and shifting loyalties. He falls in love with Khadija and together they form a family, but Winston’s life (and temperament, it seems) keep him constantly on the move. His love for Khadija does not prevent other liaisons, and the times are somewhat lawless. Many of the women of the land are there through circumstance and force, rather than choice, and this historical accuracy may be jarring for some modern readers.Khadija’s background is also tragic, but her love for Winston appears genuine.

“Robbie, can you imagine how stupid a man would look if he were the American Consul and walked into the court of the Ottoman Sultan in Constantinople and was not able to speak their tongue?” I said, mimicking the pompous tone of my professors. “Once I get my degree and am fluent in Arabic, and I will be soon, I wager that I will destroy anyone who thinks he should be Consul to the Ottomans. I can see this so clearly that I can taste it,” I said as our boat began to heel over in the wind. We shifted our weight to the windward side of the craft and headed out on a reach toward the open Atlantic.”

The story is written from Winston’s first-person point of view. His telling of what some may see as pivotal events is casual and sometimes off-hand, however this underscores elements of his character. On one hand he is “distraught” to leave Kadija’s before his daughter’s birth but the arrival of the child merits only a brief mention, before he is off again, talking of friends and places. In the same way, the narrative jumps around at times, taking the reader backwards and forwards in time, but for many this will highlight the authenticity of the writing. It is as though we are reading Winston’s personal journal. The author’s/Winston’s description of traversing the Sahara is highly evocative, as concern about water intensifies.

“I sat listening to Mustapha speak with several of his courtiers, one of whom, although dressed in a white floor-length Algerian tunic, was European. I guessed that he had converted to Islam as I had, but years earlier. Although I did not understand some of the technical terms in Arabic, from their conversation, I gathered that he was overseeing the building of new naval fortifications somewhere near the eastern end of the Bay of Algiers.”

The storyline does circle back to the USA, where further questions arise, and the reality of years away from home sinks in. The reaction of Winston’s family to his return varies, and his struggle to assimilate back into Western society is real. There are plot twists a-plenty, and several tantalising questions for the reader to contemplate when they finally surface from the experience that is this book.

“It had been three months since I walked out of our ruined city of Algiers. On New Year’s Day, 1817, we arrived at the border outpost town of Oujda. Located just inside the Moroccan border, about thirty kilometers south of the sea, I had passed through the town twelve years earlier with my Janissary troops on our way to my first Sahara crossing. The town was a caravan trading depot, where travelers could buy and sell everything from camels and food supplies to gunpowder. Merchants bartered or sold their wares to caravanners traveling to and from port cities on the Atlantic and to destinations east, including Alexandria, Mecca, and beyond.”

“An American Slave in Barbary” by Larry Kelley is an immersive read that transports the reader to a long lost world of pirates, the might of the Ottoman Empire and perilous traverses across the Sahara and inhospitable lands. The horrific capture of Winston Prescott Jones and his brother Robbie at sea is the catalyst for a irrevocable chain of events that the family can never fully heal from. A must for enthusiasts of early 1800s world history and nation-building.

“An American Slave in Barbary” by Larry Kelley receives 4 1/2 stars from The Historical Fiction Company

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