CONCEIVED as entertainment, pure and simple, these twelve historical stories of the American past are superb examples of the storyteller's art and of an art which, with seeming effortlessness, brings to life again the days when the nation was young, when its first great battles were fought, when the frontier reached westward.

Here is Washington saying farewell to his generals at Fraunces' Tavern; Conyngham, scourge of the British fleet whom they called "the one-man navy"; Daniel Boone, Andrew Jackson, Jean Lafitte the pirate, and many others. . . .

Howard Fast is one of the best historical novelists of our time. In these shorter pieces the same qualities are revealed: no excess word, fidelity to spirit as well as fact, and the singular ability to revitalize the time and the men when the wind of liberty was fresh and strong.

Mr. Fast is also the author of such best sellers as Citizen Tom Paine and Freedom Road.

This special edition of PATRICK HENRY AND THE FRIGATE'S KEEL by Howard Fast has been made available to the Armed Forces of the United States through an arrangement with the original publisher, Duell, Sloan & Pearce, Inc., New York.

Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., a non-profit organization established by the Council on Books in Wartime