'Barons of the Sea' chronicles the race to build the perfect clipper ship

There were two simultaneous revolutions in sailing unfolding in America in the mid-19th century, and one of them was making frantic newspaper headlines virtually every single day. This was the sudden-feeling and all-consuming race for the sleekest, most advanced "90-day sailer," trim-lined vessels piled high with tall white pyramids of sail, carefully designed to slice through the sea at unprecedented speeds. These were the famous “clipper ships,” and they're the dream floating before the eyes of all the characters in Steven Ujifusa's fast-paced and entrancing new book