I have just finished two books that very nicely recount America’s first foreign war in the first decade of the 1800s, following its independence from Great Britain. The war was President Thomas Jefferson’s effort to stop the piracy of American ships by the three Islamic nations on the north coast of Africa — Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli (now in Libya) — then called the Barbary coast.

These Arab nations had for decades made it policy to hold all Mediterranean shipping hostage, demanding tribute from everyone or else they would attack ships, steal their goods, and either enslave their crew and passengers or hold them for ransom. The European nations paid, endlessly, rather than fight. The U.S. initially paid, but by 1800 and the election of Jefferson as president, it was tired of paying — especially because the payments were never enough to stop the raiding, nor were they enough to free those already captured and enslaved. When the ruler of Tripoli declared war against the U.S., Jefferson was glad to oblige.

The war that followed was the first in which American troops fought on foreign soil and planted the American flag in victory. It was also the first in which joint operations by American naval and land forces led to that victory. And finally, it was the first battle for the U.S. Marines, thus establishing firmly that branch of the military.

The two books to the right tell this story most effectively, but in very different ways.

First there is The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the first Marines, and the secret mission of 1805 by Richard Zacks. Published in 2005, it is a very rich and well-researched work, while being remarkably readable because it tells the story from the point of view of the individuals involved. There is much triumph and tragedy in this story, and Zacks captures both.

Then we have Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates, written by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger and published ten years later in 2015. Unlike Zacks’ book, it does not delve as deeply into the lives of the many players, Instead, it is a fast-reading short but very thorough overview of this war.

Both books are worth reading, though The Pirate Coast is the better history. I strongly recommend you read both, however, beginning with the Kilmeade/Yaeger book.

Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates is perfect introduction for educating you quickly on what happened and why. You then can follow-up with The Pirate Coast to get the deeper background. And trust me, that background is worth every second of your time. The story of William Eaton and his effort — with government approval — to bring an Arab/Greek mercenary army from Egypt across the African desert to conquer Tripoli and install a new ruler there is the stuff of movies.

In fact, it astonishes me that no Hollywood producer has ever made a film about it. It is as epic as Lawrence of Arabia, and just as compelling. Maybe more so, as it tells an American story that is foundational to our history.

And the story both books tell of this 19th century war is remarkably pertinent to modern 21st century events, which is another reason to read both. In the prologue of Kilmeade/Yaeger book the authors describe the first meeting of Jefferson and John Adams with Tripoli’s ambassador to Great Britain in London, Sidi Haji Abdrahaman. Both tried their best to convince the envoy that his government’s best policy would be to stop the piracy and instead allow open trade with America. Both were horrified however by his response:

Adams asked how the Barbary states could justify “[making] war upon nations who had done them no injury.” The response was nothing less than chilling.

According to his holy book, the Qur’an, Abdrahaman explained, “all nations which had not acknowledge the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave.”

…Abdrahaman refused to play the role of “benevolent and wise man.” Despite the Americans’ horror, he wasn’t apologizing in any way. He showed no remorse or regret. He believed the actions of his fellow Muslims fully justified. “Every mussulman,” he explained, “who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise.”

To Abdrahaman, this was not complicated. In his culture, the takers of ships, the enslavers of men, the barbarians who extorted bribes for safe passage, were all justified by the teaching of the prophet Muhammad. “It was written in our Qur’an,” he said simply.

Sound familiar? It appears little has changed in the Muslim world after more than two centuries. This is the identical attitude of the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran today, based on their holy book and the warlike power-based approach to religion that Muhammad advocated. Just as in 1800s Muhammad’s words encouraged piracy and slavery, his words now drive an endless cycle of genocidal acts, against Jews and Christians worldwide, merely for being Jews and Christians.

At the end of this book there was another equally telling quote:

America had stood up to the pirates, something that most of the more established European nations hadn’t been willing to do. … In prevailing off the Barbary Coast, the United States proved that it would not only go to war for its own interests but would do what it could for oppressed citizens of other nations.

Once again, after two centuries, nothing has changed. For decades Europe was harassed by the Barbary pirates and did nothing but try to buy them off — with mixed and usually poor results. It took a new nation from the opposite side of the globe to finally clean up the situation. When America finally ended the war in 1815 the piracy was over as well, with every nation now free to enjoy safe travel in the Mediterranean for the next two centuries.

In the 21st century the Barbary Coast returned, this time in the guise of the Islamic Republic in Iran. And as in the 19th century, Europe sits with folded hands, letting the U.S. do the dirty work, despite the reality that Europe has far more to lose than we do if Iran remains emboldened and powerful. They are far more dependent on Middle East oil than we are.

What lesson can we derive from this? I think the lessons are obvious, for those with the intellectual honesty to see. Islam is fundamentally a dangerous ideology. Europe is unreliable and foolish. And America remains the hope and glory for the future, because at its base it was created to defend the right of every human to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.