" A pungent satire on American affairs. " Samuel Eliot Morison

In 1787, while American sailors languished in a Barbary prison, delegates debated the Constitution in Philadelphia. Despite America s desire to respond to the crisis, without a central government, the new republic had no means to create a naval force. Enter an anonymously published book, "The Algerine Spy in Pennsylvania: or, Letters Written by a Native of Algiers on the Affairs of the United States in America," which began circulating among the delegates. Consisting of a series of letters ostensibly written by an Algerian...