Distant echoes.

IN Victory in Tripoli: How America's War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation (Wiley, 276 pp., $24.95), Washington-based writer Joshua E. London tells an exciting story of the War on Terror--circa 1800. The Mediterranean pirates were demanding tribute from U.S. vessels; little over a decade into the existence of the new federal government, an American administration struggled over how to respond. President Thomas Jefferson understood, early on, what was necessary: "I know that nothing will stop the eternal increase of demands from these pirates but the presence of an armed force." But there would be much failure and frustration before victory finally came. Indeed, while the "Shores of Tripoli" are remembered to this day in the Marine Corps hymn, America's triumph there in 1805 did not put an end to the pirates' terrorism; further U.S. force would prove necessary. London's fascinating account gives us cause for hope that even long, twilight struggles can, after twists and turns of ugly politics, end in victory.

* Is the European megastate destined to be America's rival, or even enemy? Rockwell A. Schnabel, U.S. ambassador to the European Union from 2001 to 2005, is among the most astute observers of European affairs, and he urges American policymakers to resist Europhobia. In The Next Superpower? The Rise of Europe and Its Challenge to the United States (Rowman & Littlefield, 199 pp., $22.95), written with Francis X. Rocca, Schnabel says not just that European integration is here to stay but that it is not "in America's interest to undermine the EU project." By rejecting a "divide and conquer" strategy against the Continent, and instead "confirming our partnership with a united Europe," we may be able to encourage the EU to move toward greater economic freedom--and that would certainly be in the U.S. interest. "The costs of damage to our $2.5 trillion annual commercial relationship," Schnabel says, "are grim to contemplate."

* The irrepressible Dick Morris is back with a highly entertaining scenario for 2008. In Condi vs. Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race (Regan, 336 pp., $25.95), Morris and his wife, Eileen McGann, describe a potential battle of the titans between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Hillary, of course, has experience in electoral politics, but--say the authors--Rice could win, somewhat as Eisenhower did in 1952.

* The joie de vivre of Catholicism is well captured in The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living: A Loving Look at the Lighter Side of the Catholic Faith, with Recipes for Feasts and Fun (Crossroad, 216 pp., $14.95), by John Zmirak and Denise Matychowiak. The authors--respectively, a journalist and a prominent chef--prove that irreverence is compatible with true piety as they gallop through Catholic ideas, anecdotes . . . and recipes appropriate for various days in the religious calendar. The book often rises to the level of laugh-out-loud funny, and observes the Catholic scene with wit and insight--as in this description of a 1993 poll on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist: "Among Catholics under thirty, [the] percentage [of believers in this doctrine] dropped to 17 percent. The rest held that Jesus is present in a shadowy, symbolic fashion--a smiling ghost like Abraham Lincoln at a refrigerator closeout on Presidents' Day."

* The Day Without Yesterday: Lemaitre, Einstein, and the Birth of Modern Cosmology (Thunder's Mouth, 256 pp., $24), by John Farrell, tells the story of how a remarkable Catholic priest/scientist, Georges Lemaitre, figured out--before Einstein did--that the universe was expanding.