Breaking the Blockade

An insightful and detailed treatment of Civil War-era Nassau, Charles Ross's Breaking the Blockade is an impressive wartime history of the port, the economic, military, social, and political dimensions of which fill a noticeable gap in the scholarly study of the illicit international trade network without which the Confederacy could not have survived nearly as long as it did. Recommended. Civil War Books and Authors

Readers holding the moonlight-and-magnolia vision of blockade running during the Civil War as the patriotic actions of intrepid sea dogs selflessly smuggling critical war materials into Southern ports had best read Charles D. Ross' deeply researched and energetically written monograph to get the story straight. Gordon Berg, Civil War Times

Breaking the Blockade is an engrossing work covering an oft-overlooked aspect of the American Civil War. . . . [The] book is suitable for general readers and scholars alike. Benjamin J. Lyman, Ohio State University, The Journal of Military History

Deeply and impressively researched . . . Breaking the Blockade uses a broad lens and a deft pen to capture an important and compelling story that sheds light on the perils and rewards of blockade-running in the Civil War. Students and enthusiasts alike will find Ross’s book to be a model work in every regard, and readers will come away with a better understanding of how and why the Confederacy lasted as long as it did. Stefan D. Engle, Journal of Southern History

In Breaking the Blockade, Ross examines the role played by the bahamian port of Nassau in supplying the Confederacy during the Civil War. Relying on a variety of primary and secondary sources, Ross effectively unravels the complex web of business and politics that led to Naussau's emergency as a de facto hub for ships seeking to bypass the Union blockade. C. L. Sinclair, CHOICE

Breaking the Blockade is an engrossing work covering an oft-overlooked aspect of the American Civil War. . . . [The] book is suitable for general readers and scholars alike. Benjamin J. Lyman, The Journal of Military History

Breaking the Blockade provides a fascinating study of the transnational dimensions of the Blockade Running era. Christopher Curry, New West Indies Guide