2006 Scholar's Bookshlf reprint edition. When this study was originally published in 1935 it was the only biographical study of Perry to have appeared in nearly a century, and it at once provideda complete and detailed portrait of Perry'simportance in American naval history and a revealing new account of the crucial importance his victory over the British fleet on Lake Erie in 1813. It remains the most complete biography and an essential source for the documentary background of Perry's life and career.