B.B. French knew just about everything and everyone in the sweep of American history from the Age of Jackson to the Civil War and Reconstruction. His recollections shed light on the personalities, events, manners, and politics of the times.

With Commodore Perry to Japan offers a personal account of Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry’s expedition to Japan through the eyes of a sixteen-year-old purser’s clerk of the USS Mississippi. The documentary edition, endorsed by the National Historic Publications & Records Commission, provides excellent coverage of both the political mission of the Perry expedition, the opening of relations with Japan, and of the social history of a naval warship as well. Also included are fifty-five illustrations ranging from hand drawn, pen-and-ink scenes of everyday life sketched by Speiden and other members of the crew to exquisitely colored and detailed pith paintings by Chinese artists.