“Thomas Truxes is among that relatively rare breed — a meticulous historian who also writes well. Defying Empire is a wonderfully engaging book. Like both good history and good fiction, it left me wanting more.”

— Richard Spilman, Historic Naval Fiction

“And then one day I came across Thomas M. Truxes's nonfiction work Defying Empire: Trading with the Enemy in Colonial New York. I realized that some of my own New York ancestors had probably been caught up in this kind of trade activity. So, I started taking a deeper dive into the period. Bellewether grew from there.”

— Susanna Kearsley, best selling author of Bellwether

“Truxes writes scholarly history with a fine narrative flair. . . .a delight to read.”

—PhiloBiblos on Defying Empire

“The author’s strong narrative of spies, street riots, court room dramas, political intrigue, maritime rendezvous in quiet coves, high seas seizures, ruthless merchants and powerful politicians who misused and abused the law, makes for riveting reading.”

— The Journal of Military History on Defying Empire

“An extraordinary entrée into a long-vanished world.”

— Irish Historical Studies on The Bordeaux–Dublin Letters

“An engaging narrative. . . . This is not the first scholarly work on smuggling in the mid-Atlantic, but Truxes has made a few choices that separate his study from others.”

— Cathy Matson, The Historian on Defying Empire

“Few things are more exciting for a historian in the archives than to find documents unopened, and seen by nobody else.”

— Irish Economic and Social History on The Bordeaux–Dublin Letters