The Eighteenth Captain
by Nicholas Nicastro
“I have not yet begun to fight...”
This famous quote is the sum of what most people know about naval hero John Paul Jones.
In The Eighteenth Captain , Nicholas Nicastro profiles the complex character of the young John Paul Jones as he navigates the military, political and romantic battlefields of Revolutionary America and France.
Rousing sea battles and daring military manoeuvres, along with a cast of vivid characters ranging from arrogant aristocrats to prostitutes and even such well-known figures as Benjamin Franklin, Benedict Arnold, and the Marquis de Lafayette.
In this insightful and richly imagined novel, is depicted John Paul Jones’ struggles with life on sea and land at the birth of two nations.
The Eighteenth Captain is a lively historical tale that will enlighten and excite from the very first page.
Praise for Nicholas Nicastro:
"Nicastro takes you by the scruff of your neck and yanks you into the action of history." - Eric Machan Howd, Ithaca Times
“With an amiable voice and a flowing style, Nicholas Nicastro brings historical places and people to vivid new life.” — Steven Strogatz, author of Sync: How Order Emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature, and Daily Eifey
“Nicastro is an author who clearly relishes his subject. Each sentence bursts with juicy, nurturing historical detail and considered thought about the hopes, aspirations, ideals and troubles of those who lived in the distant past. — Bettany Hughes, broadcaster and author of Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore
“Nicastro knows his ancient sources intimately, but also has the born novelist’s instinct to flesh out their bare bones all too plausibly.” — Paul Cartledge, Professor of Greek History, University of Cambridge, and author of Alexander the Great: The Hunt for a New Past
“Reading one of Nicastro’s books has the same fascination as staring at a terrible car crash. The scenes he constructs force us to grapple with the disturbing roots of our own cultural assumptions.” — Pamela Goddard, Ithaca Times
Nicholas Nicastro was born in Astoria, New York in 1963. He has worked as a film critic, a hospital orderly, a newspaper reporter, a library archivist, a college lecturer in anthropology and psychology, an animal behaviorist, and an advertising salesman. His published novels include The Eighteenth Captain (1999), Between Two Fires(2002), Umpire of Ashes (2004), and The Isle of Stone (2005) . His writings also include short fiction, travel and science articles in such publications as The New York Times, The New York Observer, Film Comment, and The International Herald Tribune .
This famous quote is the sum of what most people know about naval hero John Paul Jones.
In The Eighteenth Captain , Nicholas Nicastro profiles the complex character of the young John Paul Jones as he navigates the military, political and romantic battlefields of Revolutionary America and France.
Rousing sea battles and daring military manoeuvres, along with a cast of vivid characters ranging from arrogant aristocrats to prostitutes and even such well-known figures as Benjamin Franklin, Benedict Arnold, and the Marquis de Lafayette.
In this insightful and richly imagined novel, is depicted John Paul Jones’ struggles with life on sea and land at the birth of two nations.
The Eighteenth Captain is a lively historical tale that will enlighten and excite from the very first page.
Praise for Nicholas Nicastro:
"Nicastro takes you by the scruff of your neck and yanks you into the action of history." - Eric Machan Howd, Ithaca Times
“With an amiable voice and a flowing style, Nicholas Nicastro brings historical places and people to vivid new life.” — Steven Strogatz, author of Sync: How Order Emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature, and Daily Eifey
“Nicastro is an author who clearly relishes his subject. Each sentence bursts with juicy, nurturing historical detail and considered thought about the hopes, aspirations, ideals and troubles of those who lived in the distant past. — Bettany Hughes, broadcaster and author of Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore
“Nicastro knows his ancient sources intimately, but also has the born novelist’s instinct to flesh out their bare bones all too plausibly.” — Paul Cartledge, Professor of Greek History, University of Cambridge, and author of Alexander the Great: The Hunt for a New Past
“Reading one of Nicastro’s books has the same fascination as staring at a terrible car crash. The scenes he constructs force us to grapple with the disturbing roots of our own cultural assumptions.” — Pamela Goddard, Ithaca Times
Nicholas Nicastro was born in Astoria, New York in 1963. He has worked as a film critic, a hospital orderly, a newspaper reporter, a library archivist, a college lecturer in anthropology and psychology, an animal behaviorist, and an advertising salesman. His published novels include The Eighteenth Captain (1999), Between Two Fires(2002), Umpire of Ashes (2004), and The Isle of Stone (2005) . His writings also include short fiction, travel and science articles in such publications as The New York Times, The New York Observer, Film Comment, and The International Herald Tribune .
