| Author: | Hibberd V. B. Kline, III | ISBN: | 9781475600506 |
| Publisher: | Hibberd V. B. Kline, III | Publication: | January 30, 2013 |
| Imprint: | Language: | English |
| Author: | Hibberd V. B. Kline, III |
| ISBN: | 9781475600506 |
| Publisher: | Hibberd V. B. Kline, III |
| Publication: | January 30, 2013 |
| Imprint: | |
| Language: | English |
Prowling the Gulf of Guinea in search of a notorious American slaver, U.S.S. Jamestown houses a ship’s company on the cusp of disintegration in the spring of 1861. Festering personal animosities burst into the open when the captain is killed. Arriving for repairs at the British port of Freetown, the crew hears of Fort Sumter. Political tensions explode requiring each officer and man aboard to resolve his own conflicting loyalties as Jamestown mimics the nation’s slide into sectional conflict. To avoid an international incident, Jamestown departs abandoning those of her crew suspected of Southern sympathies. Marooned in West Africa, Midshipman Charles Sweet and Lieutenant of Marines Aaron Bonney must overcome their personal animosities to lead two-dozen Southerners home through diplomatic complications, romantic entanglements, local warfare, and conflict with the United States Navy. Faced with crises that would daunt a commodore, only a combination of dash, courage, quick wits, and inconceivable luck can get them home to war.
Set against the colorful backdrop of the British Colony of Sierra Leone and the African-American Republic of Liberia, this carefully researched, accurately detailed story brings alive the human and historical turmoil of a nation and a naval service spiraling into civil war.
"CONFLICTING LOYALTIES addresses many interesting questions. How did the effects of the Civil War extend beyond the borders of the United States? What were the relations between those in the military from different part of the country, what were their perspectives about the slavery issue, and how complicated was the master – slave relationship? How might U.S. military units away from the United States react to the dissolution of the Union? Hib Kline uses these questions as a jumping off point for a complex and fascinating novel of personal and political conflict, blood, friendship, loyalty, humor, tenderness, lust, love, and naval war in a most overlooked locale, West Africa."
-- Alex S. Rosser, PhD, former President, Wornall/Majors House Museums, Inc.
"CONFLICTING LOYALTIES is a well-spun yarn, full of salt, spray, and red-blooded characters. Hib Kline's tale of the Marines of the Civil War era, masterly weaving fictional and historical entities and events into the novel, measures up to C.S. Forester's Hornblower series."
-- David M. Sullivan, author of the four-volume THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS IN THE CIVIL WAR
About the Author:
Hibberd Van Buren Kline, III, Colonel USMCR (Ret) brings a variety of experiences and training to his writing of Civil War naval fiction. Hib is an honors graduate in History from Harvard, where he was starting saber on the Freshman Fencing Team and founding President of the Harvard Polo Club. He holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia, served thirty years active and reserve, ashore and afloat in the United States Marines, and has been a War Between the States re-enactor on-and-off since 1962, including participating as a Marine in the movie Gods and Generals. When he writes of amphibious landings from whaleboats or firing large caliber 19th Century naval guns he actually has done so. The first novel in his Navy Gray series is set in West Africa where he lived for a year as a child. Hib currently is a practicing attorney and adjunct college professor. He and his wife Christine have a home in Kansas City and a farm in nearby Centerview, Missouri.
Prowling the Gulf of Guinea in search of a notorious American slaver, U.S.S. Jamestown houses a ship’s company on the cusp of disintegration in the spring of 1861. Festering personal animosities burst into the open when the captain is killed. Arriving for repairs at the British port of Freetown, the crew hears of Fort Sumter. Political tensions explode requiring each officer and man aboard to resolve his own conflicting loyalties as Jamestown mimics the nation’s slide into sectional conflict. To avoid an international incident, Jamestown departs abandoning those of her crew suspected of Southern sympathies. Marooned in West Africa, Midshipman Charles Sweet and Lieutenant of Marines Aaron Bonney must overcome their personal animosities to lead two-dozen Southerners home through diplomatic complications, romantic entanglements, local warfare, and conflict with the United States Navy. Faced with crises that would daunt a commodore, only a combination of dash, courage, quick wits, and inconceivable luck can get them home to war.
Set against the colorful backdrop of the British Colony of Sierra Leone and the African-American Republic of Liberia, this carefully researched, accurately detailed story brings alive the human and historical turmoil of a nation and a naval service spiraling into civil war.
"CONFLICTING LOYALTIES addresses many interesting questions. How did the effects of the Civil War extend beyond the borders of the United States? What were the relations between those in the military from different part of the country, what were their perspectives about the slavery issue, and how complicated was the master – slave relationship? How might U.S. military units away from the United States react to the dissolution of the Union? Hib Kline uses these questions as a jumping off point for a complex and fascinating novel of personal and political conflict, blood, friendship, loyalty, humor, tenderness, lust, love, and naval war in a most overlooked locale, West Africa."
-- Alex S. Rosser, PhD, former President, Wornall/Majors House Museums, Inc.
"CONFLICTING LOYALTIES is a well-spun yarn, full of salt, spray, and red-blooded characters. Hib Kline's tale of the Marines of the Civil War era, masterly weaving fictional and historical entities and events into the novel, measures up to C.S. Forester's Hornblower series."
-- David M. Sullivan, author of the four-volume THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS IN THE CIVIL WAR
About the Author:
Hibberd Van Buren Kline, III, Colonel USMCR (Ret) brings a variety of experiences and training to his writing of Civil War naval fiction. Hib is an honors graduate in History from Harvard, where he was starting saber on the Freshman Fencing Team and founding President of the Harvard Polo Club. He holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia, served thirty years active and reserve, ashore and afloat in the United States Marines, and has been a War Between the States re-enactor on-and-off since 1962, including participating as a Marine in the movie Gods and Generals. When he writes of amphibious landings from whaleboats or firing large caliber 19th Century naval guns he actually has done so. The first novel in his Navy Gray series is set in West Africa where he lived for a year as a child. Hib currently is a practicing attorney and adjunct college professor. He and his wife Christine have a home in Kansas City and a farm in nearby Centerview, Missouri.
