George Washington, President of a very young United States of America must once again resort to mayhem and destruction to save his administration and avoid a possible reunification with England and its' King. Trade in the Mediterranean Sea area is totally cut off by the Washington Administration's refusal to pay the piratical Islamic Mussellmen tributes. So with the support of his Vice-President John Adams and his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Washington turns to a former Continental Army friend, Benjamin Stoddert. Benjamin Stoddert now operates the largest and most successful commercial shipping lines in America. With Benjamin's management skills and his son Nathaniel's ship handling skills, the Stoddert Shipping Line was able to establish trade in the very lucrative West Indies while fighting off a hoard of pirates. This resulted in a very successful Stoddert Shipping Lines (SSL). It also resulted in a very handsome contribution from Benjamin Stoddert to George Washington and his political ambitions. But a successful effort in the Mediterranean will require all of Benjamin and Nathaniel's skills. Not only will they need to defeat the numerous gunboats and fierce Mussellmen fighters, they will also have to defeat a Mussellman frigate that is reportedly manned by former British Royal Navy seaman. Success will also require a fighting ship that is capable of doing a lot of different things. It will require unique gunnery as well as fighting men. Can the Stodderts pull this off? Can anyone pull this off? There is only one way to find out and the army General in President Washington was not familiar with retreat.

Set in contemporary Turkey, the novel weighs the elements of truth that wash out of Turkey's consciousness in the wake of its historical massacres. In a culture where civic events, history and theology are often tranquilized the novel creates a path to truth for those with "ears to hear and eyes to see." The eloquent narrative of Jesus the Infidel becomes the eyewitness account of the formative events that occurred in Turkish Kurdistan in the first quarter of the twentieth century. What is revealed is as much enigma as it is story for the journalist, Tarik, who tape records and researches Jesus the Infidel's account. In counterpoint to his objective research, Tarik is forced to grapple with his own ignorance of his country's past as well as his own personal history of privilege.