Philip Nolan: The Man Without a Country book review

Photos courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute Press

Chuck Pfarrer

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In 1863, at the height of the Civil War, The Atlantic published Edward Everett Hale’s short story “The Man Without a Country” in its December issue. Set in the early part of the 19th Century, Hale recounts the remarkable story of Philip Nolan, a young Army officer who, during his court-martial, angrily renounces his country and is sentenced to spend the rest of his life aboard U.S. Navy ships at sea. Since Nolan had shouted “"D——n the United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again," the government orders the ships’ captains to treat Nolan in a courteous manner – but to make sure that he hears or sees no news of his country.

Although Hale’s story is historical fiction that’s partly based on real events, it was also a highly effective piece of wartime propaganda. Hale wrote “The Man Without a Country” to increase public support for the Union cause in the middle of America’s bloodiest conflict. Though the short story is only 6,000 words long, it did what its author intended – it inspired many young men to join the Union forces and rallied public support for President Lincoln’s policies to defeat Southern secessionists and preserve the integrity of the American nation state.

153 years later, screenwriter-author Chuck Pfarrer (“Navy SEALS,” “Warrior Soul”) expands Hale’s classic sea story/morality tale about America’s first literary anti-hero in “Philip Nolan: The Man Without a Country,” a powerful, moving 320-page novel full of political intrigue, exciting naval action, and a cast of unforgettable characters.

The opening of “Philip Nolan: The Man Without a Country” mirrors the start of Hale’s original story: in the late 19th Century, the following obituary notice is published “in an obscure corner” of the New York Herald:

"NOLAN. DIED, on board U.S. Corvette Levant, Lat. 2° 11' S., Long. 131° W., on the 11th of May: Philip Nolan.”

In Hale’s version of the tale, Philip Nolan dies on the Levant as an old man in his 70s, some 50 years after his fateful court martial. But in Pfarrer’s re-imagined account of “The Man Without a Country,” the obituary is another part of the U.S. government’s ongoing efforts to make Nolan a non-person.

“Nolan was dead, but every other word was a lie. He had been buried at sea long before USS Levant ever swam, and the latitude and longitude in the notice of death are halfway across the globe from the place he’d laid down his life. By the time the Herald’s obituary was printed not one of his family survived to mourn him and almost all none of the men who knew him, served with him, or administered his sentence remained alive. Even as they acknowledged his death, the powers that abolished Philip Nolan pushed him deeper into shadow.”

As in Hale’s original story for The Atlantic, Philip Nolan is a young Army officer who crosses paths with Aaron Burr, the former Vice President who is best known for his fatal 1804 duel with Alexander Hamilton. Sometime in 1807, Burr convinces the idealistic and somewhat naïve Nolan, a lieutenant in the artillery branch, to join his expedition to invade Mexico from the newly-acquired Louisiana Territories.

Thinking that Burr’s proposal means that the United States’ western borders will be secure from a French-Spanish invasion should Napoleon Bonaparte wish to reconquer the lands he sold to President Jefferson in 1803, Nolan becomes a minor player in the Burr Conspiracy. But all goes awry when General Wilkinson, one of Burr’s co-conspirators, has a last minute change of heart and pretends to have “uncovered” the former Vice President’s treasonous plot. Burr and many of the men he had recruited are arrested and tried, including a disbelieving Nolan.

Burr is tried for treason in Richmond, Virginia, but the prosecution fails to sway the jury and he is acquitted. Urged on by a furious Jefferson, the government sets its sights on Philip Nolan and other minor players in the Burr Conspiracy.

Nolan, of course, is not a traitor. He is young, ambitious, naïve and susceptible to the canny Burr’s manipulations, but in his heart he is a loyal American. However, he becomes bitter and disillusioned during his politically-motivated trial, and when he’s found guilty of the charges against him, despair and anger override his common sense.

“Nolan collapsed into his chair, sallow and panting. Trembling with fury, he went numb without and hollow within.

“Colonel Morgan’s voice came sternly from the bench. ‘Lieutenant Nolan, you are convicted under the laws of your country and the service which you have had the honor to serve. Is there anything that you wish to say in to this court to show that you have been faithful to the United States of America?’

“Nolan choked out the most fateful words of his life: ‘The United States? Goddamn the United States, sir! I wish that I might never hear the name of the United States again as long as I live!’ “

Unfortunately for Nolan, these are words that he will soon regret. The kangaroo court, already eager to find him guilty for his association with Aaron Burr, sentences the disgraced lieutenant to a fate worse than death. For the rest of his life, Nolan is sent into permanent exile aboard U.S. Navy ships on the high seas. And to grant him his ill-considered wish, Col. Morgan orders that Nolan may never hear or read the name of the United States again.

The narrative of “Philip Nolan: The Man Without a Country” diverges from Hale’s when Nolan is transferred to USS Enterprise, a sister ship to the famous frigate USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”), at the Spanish port of Cadiz sometime in the early 1820s. Aboard the ship, newly commissioned Lieut. Frank Curran is assigned to mind Nolan and treat him with the respect due to an officer and a gentleman, with the proviso that “the man without a country” can’t hear or read anything about the U.S.

The fast and powerful warship is a veteran of the War of 1812 and now, under the command of Capt. Arthur Pelles, is assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron. This flotilla of American naval vessels is tasked to protect U.S. merchant shipping from the marauding Barbary Pirates, the Navy’s first non-European adversaries and scourges of the Middle Sea. These 19th Century rogue states are a menace to mariners from Europe and America; they enrich their coffers by officially-sanctioned acts of piracy.

“Philip Nolan: The Man Without a Country” follows Nolan’s experiences aboard Enterprise, where he earns the respect and even friendship of most of the ship’s officers and ratings. Pfarrer shows the reader the wonders – and terrors – of life at sea in the Age of Sail, a time when a man’s honor was more precious than gold and calm seas often turned deadly when gale winds blew unexpectedly.

Pfarrer makes his version of Nolan more believable – and sympathetic – by giving him a more detailed backstory. In the novel, readers will learn about his parents, older brother, and his circle of friends in Philadelphia and elsewhere. And, of course, they will see how his regret over his intemperate words at his trial is transformed over the years into a powerful sense of patriotism and loyalty to his shipmates.;

Chuck Pfarrer knows how to tell a good story, and “Phillip Nolan: The Man Without a Country” is one of the best naval-themed novels published by the Naval Institute Press in its long history. A former sailor – Pfarrer was a Navy SEAL during the late stages of the Cold War – he uses crisp and clean prose to evoke the sights, smells, sounds, and raw emotions of 19th Century naval warfare. Fans of C.S. Forester's "Horatio Hornblower" and Patrick O'Brian's "Master and Commander" books will find this adaptation of an old American classic to be one of those novels they can't put down.

Book Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Naval Institute Press; first edition (April 15, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591145643
• ISBN-13: 978-1591145646