"Lefkowitz includes a number of fascinating details about the construction of the Turtle, and chapters are interspersed with frequent discussions of related events or issues . provided as asides in boxed format." -ALAN Review "I wish I had discovered it a while back before I started this project as it seems to be the most thorough source of information I have seen so far." -Duke Riley, avant-garde artist who built and tested a replica of the Turtle submarine David Bushnell was a "Yankee Tinkerer" during the American Revolution. Although the budding country had virtually no navy, this Yale graduate (with no practical training) created the world's first submarine. A closely guarded secret, the Turtle received limited funding from the government and was built in a shed behind Bushnell's home. Having come into a world without steam engines, electric power, or propellers, the Turtle was completely human powered. In 1776, the small submarine's primary objective became to sink the British flagship, the HMS Eagle, anchored in New York Harbor.

This was the first of three daring attempts to attack Royal Navy vessels. A dedicated American Patriot, Bushnell was later appointed by General Washington to the post of captain in what is now known as the Army Corps of Engineers. Arthur S. Lefkowitz serves on the board of governors of the American Revolution Round Table and is a lecturer for the New Jersey Council for the Humanities on the subject of the American Revolution. He has received many awards and honors for his books about this time period, including the American Revolution Round Table's annual book award, two Honor Book designations by the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, an Outstanding Book for Teenagers by the New York Public Library, and a recommended selection by the History Book Club. Lefkowitz's lecture credits include various National Park Service sites, the annual Fort Ticonderoga Revolutionary War Symposium, Fraunces Tavern Museum, and Chubb & Son Inc. In 2005, he gave the keynote address at the annual meeting of the prestigious Washington Association of New Jersey. A past board member of the Brigade of the American Revolution (a national reenactment group), Lefkowitz earned his BA from New York University and MBA from Long Island University.

He lives in New Jersey.