Kidnapped at Sea

[A] blockbuster story of battles at sea that naval history fans will devour.

Kidnapped at Sea is well researched and well written in an easily readable style. I would highly recommend it for students of the American Civil War, slavery and maritime history.

Sillen painstakingly reconstructs the largely undocumented life of a nineteenth-century African American mariner... the first from White's perspective. Anyone who has read Percival Everett's 2024 novel James will welcome this fresh take.

In this fast-paced narrative, Andrew Sillen uncovers the astounding story of David Henry White, a free Black teenager kidnapped from a US ship and forced to accompany the Confederate raider Alabama. Through a haunting account, Sillen restores White's humanity and, in doing so, provides a timely examination of the necessity for addressing historical crimes.

Kidnapped at Sea is masterful and engrossing. The sharp focus on the 'invisible' David Henry White vividly conveys the plight of the enslaved. It makes the reader care far more than a conventional history. In its methodology, it is akin to the way Anne Frank's diary made the reader see and understand the Holocaust more than all of the recitals of facts and numbers. A stunning professional accomplishment.

This book represents the best in weaving a compelling narrative across generations, geographies, and genres by an archeologist who has effectively used the perspective of his discipline to connect a young Black man's short life to the horrors of piracy, slavery, and colonial conquest.

This well-researched and captivating account of the Civil War Battle of Cherbourg commands the attention of naval and Civil War scholars alike. The embedded story of the teenage sailor David Henry White is effectively used by the author for a revealing analysis of the personal, professional, and moral strengths and flaws of all involved.

In this gripping story, Andrew Sillen rescues from Lost Cause mythology the story of David Henry White, a free Black man kidnapped and enslaved on board the CSS Alabama for 600 days before his untimely death. In the process, Sillen offers an important reminder that the struggle for a "new birth of freedom" was fought as much on the high seas as it was on the battlefield.