That Anvil of Our Souls A Novel of the Monitor and the Merrimack [Paperback]

In the third volume of David Poyer's monumental Civil War at Sea cycle, North meets South in the momentous first battle between ironclads.

InFire on the WatersAmerica split in two and the characters in David Poyer's Civil War at Sea series had to choose sides. Then, inA Country of Our Own, Ker Claiborne took the war north, aboard the Confederacy's most formidable commerce raider.

Now, inThat Anvil of Our Souls, David Poyer takes us into the turrets and casemates of the most historic sea engagement of the Civil War. In New York, Theo Hubbard is the engineer for a revolutionary new fighting machine, theMonitor, and is eager to become a man of means . . . even if it compromises his integrity. In Norfolk, Catherine Claiborne faces her husband's impending hanging for piracy, their baby daughter's death, and the realities of occupation.

In Richmond, Lieutenant Lomax Minter must find a spy who threatens the South's ultimate weapon: a tremendous ironclad, rebuilt from a sunken wreck; aging Dr. Steele witnesses the horrors that are the aftermath of glory; and gun captain Hanks, escaped slave, struggles with the twin snakes of freedom. If you have any love for ships or the sea, Poyer's narrative reads, as the critics say, as well as Conrad, Melville, and Wouk. --The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot Poyer knows what he is writing about when it comes to anything on, above, or below the water. --The New York Times Book Review Poyer's determination to present a complex, historically accurate sea yarn is impressive. . . . Sailing enthusiasts will be in their element. --Publishers Weekly