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Museum Shop Books

Stephen Decatur: American Naval Hero, 1779-1820
Robert J. Allison
“Without question Stephen Decatur was a formidable and important figure in the United States Navy…Professor Allison’s work offers the best modern study of Decatur…It is likely to appeal not only to a naval history audience but also to those interested in social history and those more broadly concerned with the early republic.” –William Fowler, Director, Massachusetts Historical Society, and author of Jack Tars
and Commodores: The American Navy, 1783-1815
-$34.95 Hardback

A Rage for Glory: The Life of Commodore Stephen Decatur, USN
James Tertius de Kay
“James de Kay, an acclaimed naval historian, has written a wonderful life history of Stephen Decatur, America’s first great naval hero after John Paul Jones. Readers will find plenty of action, as Decatur and the navy waged hot and cold wars against France, Great Britain, and the Barbary pirates between 1798 and 1815. Readers will discover how naval battles were fought and the seemingly never-ending hazards faced by those who manned the ships. Clearly and concisely, de Kay chronicles life in the nation’s early navy, with it special rules, varied duties, and strange language. He provides an especially fascinating look at the Navy’s swaggering officers and their combustible sense of honor. This is good history that will be enjoyed by all who are interested in the early United States and its struggle to survive and be truly independent.” –John E. Ferling, author of A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic
- $5.98 Hardback

The Domestic Architecture of Benjamin Henry Latrobe
Michael W. Fazio and Patrick A. Snadon
“This deeply researched and abundantly illustrated study catalogs all of Latrobe’s domestic commissions, offering an authoritative treatment of the concepts, designs, and unique interior and exterior features of his houses…”
“An extremely interesting book, full of new discoveries, and characterized by both solid research and imaginative interpretations.” –Damie Stillman, University of Delaware
- $75.00 Hardback

Capital Losses: A Cultural history of Washington’s Destroyed Buildings
Second Edition
James M. Goode, with a foreword by Richard Longstreth
From the publisher: “Before the passage of critical preservation legislation in 1978, the Nation’s Capital lost an irreplaceable assembly of architecturally and culturally significant buildings. Wanton destruction in the name of progress- particularly in the decades immediately following World War II-resulted in a legacy forever lost, a cultural heritage destroyed by the wrecker’s ball. In originally documenting 252 of these historic losses, the publication of Capital Losses a quarter century ago created a clarion call for preservations…”
- $69.95 Hardback

Encyclopedia of the War of 1812
David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, editors
“A thorough and factual examination of the war that fills a significant void in the reference literature of American military history….There is no comparable reference source.” –Choice
-$34.95 Paperback

Gentlemen’s Blood: A History of Dueling from Swords
at Dawn to Pistols at Dusk
Barbara Holland
From the publisher: “Barbara Holland guides us lightheartedly through the touchy subject of honor-and how to defend it-in this compulsively readable history of dueling’s first thousand years.”
- $6.95 Hardback

America and the Sea: A Maritime History
Benjamin W. Labaree, William M. Fowler, Jr., John B. Hattendorf, Jeffrey J. Safford, Edward W. Sloan, and Andrew W. German
From the publisher: “This is the most comprehensive maritime history of the United States available today. Spanning the centuries from Native American and Viking maritime activities before Columbus through today’s maritime enterprise, the text provides a new history of U.S. from the fundamental perspective of the sea that surrounds it and the rivers and lakes that link its vast interior to the seacoast. It is a story that affects us all, often in surprising ways, a story that explains much about the nation and its people today.”
- $65.00 Hardback

Power, Faith, and Fantasy:
America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present
Michael B. Oren, best-selling author of Six Days of War
From the publisher: “The first comprehensive history of America’s involvement in the Middle East from George Washington to George W. Bush.”
-$35.00 Hardback

Capital Drawings: Architectural Designs for Washington, D.C. from the Library of Congress
edited by C. Ford Peatross
From the publisher: “Over the past ten years, the Library of Congress has catalogued more than forty thousand drawings, prints, and photographs that capture important developments in the growth of Washington, D.C., and its greater metropolitan area, including Virginia and Maryland. This elegant volume, a guide to the library’s massive collection, offers an introduction to its content and a celebration of the ambitious project of designing the nation’s capital.”
- $55.00 Hardback

Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy
Ian W. Toll
“This wonderfully atmospheric account, brilliantly researched, full of stirring action and rich with the scent of the sea, surely establishes Ian Toll among the great naval historians writing today.” –Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman
-$27.95 Hardback

Stephen Decatur: A Life Most Bold and Daring,
Spencer Tucker
“Stephen Decatur resides in the pantheon of American naval heroes on a level shared with few others. He is to the U.S. Sailing navy what John Paul Jones was to the Continental Navy... Each man achieved fame in a war that was crucial to America’s future, and each epitomized the qualities of a great naval leader…Spencer Tucker, the author of this study, brings to it the standards and practices of a professional historian, and one as well versed in the era as he is in the nautical element…Thus, Tucker is able to place Decatur squarely in the context of his times and assess how Decatur both reflected and shaped the development of the American nation and its navy. Beyond this, Tucker writes with a lively, engaging style, accessible to a wide audience.”- From the foreword by Professor James C. Bradford, Texas A&M University
-$32.95 Hardback

The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805
Richard Zacks, author of The Pirate Hunter
From the publisher: “This is the story of America’s first overseas covert operation, one of the strangest, riskiest, most compelling adventures ever undertaken for love of glory and country.”
-$25.95 Hardback