The New York Times bestseller from master biographer Evan Thomas brings to life the tumultuous story of the father of the American Navy. John Paul Jones, at sea and in the heat of the battle, was the great American hero of the Age of Sail. He was to history what Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey and C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower are to fiction. Ruthless, indomitable, clever; he vowed to sail, as he put it, “in harm’s way.” Evan Thomas’s minute-by-minute re-creation of the bloodbath between Jones’s Bonhomme Richard and the British man-of-war Serapis off the coast of England on an autumn night in 1779 is as gripping a sea battle as can be found in any novel. Drawing on Jones’s correspondence with some of the most significant figures of the American Revolution—John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson—Thomas’s biography teaches us that it took fighters as well as thinkers, men driven by dreams of personal glory as well as high-minded principle, to break free of the past and start a new world. Jones’s spirit was classically American.

Introduces members of the United States Navy who commited acts of heroism since September 11, 2001, including medics in Iraq, a photographer in Afghanistan, and two SEALs who won the Medal of Honor, and describes their accomplishments.

Profiles the naval leader who has been called the Father of the American Navy.

Profiles John Paul Jones, who served during the Revolutionary War and is credited with founding the United States Navy.

Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Brandon Webb’s personal account of eight of his friends and fellow SEALs who made the ultimate sacrifice. “Knowing these great men—who they were, how they lived, and what they stood for—has changed my life. We can’t let them be forgotten. We’ve mourned their deaths. Let’s celebrate their lives.”—Brandon Webb As a Navy SEAL, Brandon Webb rose to the top of the world’s most elite sniper corps, experiencing years of punishing training and combat missions from the Persian Gulf to Afghanistan. Along the way, Webb served beside, trained, and supported men he came to know not just as fellow warriors, but as friends and, eventually, as heroes. This is his personal account of eight extraordinary SEALs who gave all for their comrades and their country with remarkable valor and abiding humanity: Matt “Axe” Axelson, who perished on Afghanistan’s Lone Survivor mission; Chris Campbell, Heath Robinson, and JT Tumilson, who were among the casualties of Extortion 17; Glen Doherty, Webb’s best friend, killed while helping secure the successful rescue and extraction of American CIA and State Department diplomats in Benghazi; and other close friends, classmates, and fellow warriors. These are men who left behind powerfully instructive examples of what it means to be alive—and what it truly means to be a hero. INCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHS

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! From the acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Make Your Bed—a short, inspirational book about the qualities of true, everyday heroes. THE HERO CODE is Admiral McRaven's ringing tribute to the real, everyday heroes he's met over the years, from battlefields to hospitals to college campuses, who are doing their part to save the world. When Bill McRaven was a young boy growing up in Texas, he dreamed of being a superhero. He longed to put on a cape and use his superpowers to save the earth from destruction. But as he grew older and traveled the world, he found real heroes everywhere he went -- and none of them had superpowers. None of them wore capes or cowls. But they all possessed qualities that gave them the power to help others, to make a difference, to save the world: courage, both physical and moral; humility; a willingness to sacrifice; and a deep sense of integrity. THE HERO CODE is not a cypher, a puzzle, or a secret message. It is a code of conduct; lessons in virtues that can become the foundations of our character as we build a life worthy of honor and respect.

The U.S. Navy is the largest and strongest naval force in the world. Its sailors serve all around the world in many types of jobs. In 2011 a Navy unit made history. A group of highly trained commandos, the Navy SEALS, brought down terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden.