After a patrol lasting 139 years, the Confederate States Submarine H.L. Hunley has returned home. "The Long Patrol" describes how the world's first operational submarine was designed and built. As this part of the story is methodically unveiled, the characters of Horace Lawson Hunley and the Confederate military officers who backed him come to life and step off the pages of the book. On another level, this book is an indispensable social history of the Confederacy during its slow death. It concludes with a description of the burial of the crew of the H.L. Hunley, . In his discussion of the likely causes for the loss of the Hunley, Mike Kozlowski's description of exhaustion, exposure, cold, ever-decreasing oxygen levels and the multiplying factors of ill-health, concussion and long tern malnutrition all strike a resonant chord. His is the most likely and well-substantiated explanation for the loss of the Hunley and one that fits well with information gained during the recovery of the sunken submarine.