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. A declaration of war by Tripoli in 1801 marked the first foreign policy test of Thomas Jefferson's administration. Then, on Halloween of 1803, the unthinkable happened: The USS Philadelphia accidentally ran aground in Tripoli harbor, and the Barbary pirates captured three hundred U.S. sailors and marines. The Moslem ruler renamed the frigate "The Gift of Allah" and held the Americans as his slaves, to be auctioned at his whim. Faced with this hostage crisis and an ongoing war with Tripoli, Jefferson dispatched diplomats and navy squadrons to the Mediterranean, but he also authorized a secret mission to overthrow the government there.

Unabridged. Audio file. Title from image on Web page (viewed January 16, 2007). Previously released on compact disc, 2005.

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