Donald Barr Chidsey Books in Order

Adventure, gambling, fighting, and romance intersect aboard a Mississippi riverboat. This novel follows life along the river through encounters shaped by chance and conflict, with the boat providing the setting for its changing fortunes and relationships.

Donald Barr Chidsey follows Walter Raleigh's life through the affairs of the English court. His biography connects Raleigh's social, military, naval and political activities with the wider history of England during the years he helped shape its events.

A New Jersey couple must choose between taking the journey they have long dreamed of and rescuing their son from scandal. Their competing responsibilities place family loyalty against the chance to pursue plans they have cherished.

Five people are stranded on a neglected South Pacific island when a shipping strike delays their departure. As five weeks of discomfort erode their restraint, hidden tensions emerge and familiar social behavior gives way to their least attractive impulses.

Engineer Harry Kellems's wife joins him in Panama during construction of the canal, then becomes attracted to a soldier working against the project. Harry's own divided affections complicate their marriage amid disease, political interference, and an immense engineering undertaking.

Two young bondsmen in coastal Connecticut seek adventure during the embargo and War of 1812. Their friendship and loyalty to the household that raised them are tested by blockade-running, betrayal, and competing feelings for the woman they consider a sister.

Rodney spends his free time at the local airport, fascinated by aircraft and eager to help its staff. His father’s strong opposition forces him to conceal the visits until a flight with a visiting pilot brings their conflict into the open.

Captain Adam Long struggles to keep command of the Goodwill to Men while facing pirates, kidnapping, duels, and maritime rivalries. His eighteenth-century adventures take him between Rhode Island, the Caribbean, and England, alongside the headstrong Maisie.

Two opium-carrying ships race from Singapore toward Canton, where arriving first promises greater profits. Captain Abner's voyage becomes entangled with two women aboard his vessel, while combat, repairs, and the threat of mutiny jeopardize his command.

Impoverished knight Guy fitz Warin defeats a royal official and finds himself opposing King John. His struggle takes him into the world of serfdom as he tries to rescue a claimant to the throne from the king’s reach.

A pirate crew captures the Bahamas governor's niece, leaving George Rounsivel caught between protecting her and concealing his own deception. His jealous companion and dangerous shipmates make the captive's presence a threat to both his secret and his survival.

After offending a favorite of Queen Elizabeth while pursuing a woman, young swordsman Talbot Slanning must flee England. Joining Francis Drake's expedition to the Caribbean offers escape, but carries him into piracy, Spanish treasure, and further danger.

Mistaken for a notorious murderer, Tom Savage is convicted and narrowly escapes execution. To clear his name, the previously peaceable young man adopts the criminal's identity as a highwayman, hoping the impersonation will eventually bring him face to face with his double.

Fleeing a murder charge, Johnny Lamb sails to Hawaii and becomes a successful merchant close to Queen Kaahumanu. Meeting missionary widow Ann Mathewson brings competing convictions and strong personalities into his already unconventional life among the islands.

American engineer George Heritage enters Cuban waters and is quickly caught between Spanish authorities and rebels. Rescued from execution but pursued by both sides, he assumes a daring new identity while struggling to survive the island's violent conflict.

Driven from King John’s England, the baron of Whittington takes refuge in France while royal abuses continue at home. Loyalty to his people and his love for Amy compel him to consider returning despite the danger awaiting him.

Young Glenallan joins the Highland clans rallying to Bonnie Prince Charlie, leaving behind the English courtier he loves. His enthusiasm for restoring the Stuarts collides with the reality of a small force challenging the armies of George II.

The Continental Army’s winter at Valley Forge becomes an account of hunger, cold and the effort to sustain a rebellion. Comparisons with British comfort in Philadelphia accompany the training, foreign assistance and renewed campaigning that follow the troops’ struggle to endure.

A gambler becomes embroiled in a fight against pirates, with his own life at stake. His struggle for survival is entwined with his pursuit of a Creole woman, bringing romance into an already dangerous adventure.

A diplomat becomes a secret courier amid the rivalry between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. His involvement in Tudor political intrigue leads from dangerous messages to seafaring action, including conflict with the Spanish Armada.

Sea rover Alan Waite occupies the uncertain space between pirate and opponent of piracy. His adventures along the Spanish Main involve captured women, revenge, and rival loyalties, making him a villain to some and a hero to others.

Donald Barr Chidsey surveys the War of 1812 with particular attention to Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans. The account places that climactic confrontation within the broader conflict, connecting the wider war with the campaign for which it is often remembered.

After a drunken mistake, pirate Sal awakens aboard the Mayflower instead of his own ship. Forced into life among the Pilgrims, his manners, romantic interests, and fighting instincts create friction during the voyage and the colony's difficult beginnings.

Privateering emerges as a dangerous business linking private vessels with public warfare. Following American captains from colonial times through the Civil War, Donald Barr Chidsey examines the risks, financial motives and contested legal position of sailors authorized to attack enemy commerce.

This informal history traces the development and use of gunpowder through historical episodes and anecdotes. Chidsey examines the world surrounding early weapons, challenging familiar assumptions about medieval castles, royalty, and the circumstances in which gunpowder changed warfare.

A sea battle leaves Ezra Bond commanding a vessel and carrying a captured English noblewoman to the West Indies. On St. Eustatius, an American representative tempts him with profitable gunpowder smuggling, forcing him to weigh money against considerable danger.

At the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, delegates with competing regional and political interests struggle to shape a new government. Chidsey follows the arguments and compromises behind the Constitution, presenting its framers as working politicians rather than distant monuments.

The Boston Tea Party forms the center of this account of the growing rupture between Britain and its American colonies. Chidsey follows the disputes and resistance that helped turn imperial disagreement into the beginning of the American Revolution.

British victories in New York and New Jersey threaten to end the rebellion during the campaign of 1776. The account follows Washington’s retreat, military setbacks and the crossing of the Delaware that turns a deteriorating position toward renewed American resistance.

Indentured clerk Toby Franklin is ordered aboard Captain Kidd's ship as its supercargo on a voyage toward Madagascar. His cautious habits offer little preparation for the hazards ahead, especially when an unexpected passenger complicates the already uncertain expedition.

Donald Barr Chidsey traces the conflict between the United States and Mexico through military campaigns and political decisions. Major battles and the invasion of Mexico accompany portraits of the leaders whose ambitions and choices shaped a controversial and destructive war.

Thomas Jefferson commissions Lewis and Clark to investigate the lands acquired west of the Mississippi. Their expedition becomes the focus of this historical account, following the undertaking through which the United States sought a fuller understanding of its vast new western territory.

Chidsey examines the Spanish-American War through the political decisions, diplomacy, and newspaper campaigns surrounding the fighting. Personalities and military events connect the conflict in Cuba with the pressures that helped draw the United States into war.

Donald Barr Chidsey follows the American Revolution in the Carolinas and Georgia as a conflict between neighbors as well as nations. He examines patriot and loyalist leaders alongside the landscape, colonial population and political conditions shaping their campaigns.

This history follows the early United States Navy into conflict with the Barbary powers of North Africa. The struggle against piracy and the Tripolitan War frame an account of the young navy establishing its role abroad.

This history examines American colonists who remained loyal to Britain during the Revolution. It follows their beliefs, their activities during the struggle for independence, and the consequences they faced as the colonies became a new nation.

Samuel Adams's political career provides a view of Boston's transformation from colonial city to center of rebellion. The biography follows his organizing and relationships as resistance to British rule develops into a movement for American independence.

Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson offered competing visions for the newly formed United States. This account examines their ideological conflict and its influence on the country's early development, showing how disagreement helped shape the emerging republic.

This history follows the Panama Canal from the idea of linking oceans through the struggles of construction. Engineering obstacles and competing interests frame an account of how the project was completed and the position it held when originally published.

An hour-by-hour narrative follows the deliberations surrounding American independence in Philadelphia. Political maneuvering, disagreement among delegates, and revisions to Jefferson's text reveal how the Continental Congress reached a decision amid uncertainty during the first days of July 1776.