Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Viking (2012), Edition: 1st, 656 pages
Description
In this book the author, a historian punctures the myth that 1776 was the watershed year of the American Revolution. He suggests that the great events and confrontations of 1775 such as Congress's belligerent economic ultimatums to Britain, New England's 'rage militaire,' the exodus of British troops and expulsion of royal governors up and down the seaboard, and the new provincial congresses and hundreds of local committees that quickly reconstituted local authority in Patriot hands, achieved a sweeping Patriot control of territory and local government that Britain was never able to overcome.
Media reviews
If you buy only one history book for the rest of 2013, this should be the one.
Phillips’ book provides an unfamiliar look at a familiar story. He shows that by the end of 1775, America had already become its own nation in so many ways.
One does not have to accept Phillips’s claim about the seminal significance of 1775 as the decisive year to appreciate his larger achievement. This is a feisty, fearless, edgy book, blissfully bereft of academic jargon, propelled by the energy of an author with the bit in his teeth.
With his keen eye for the structure of society and politics, Phillips has a lot to say about the multiple concerns that were at play in late-eighteenth-century America. But these concerns, taken individually or collectively, cannot explain why the Revolution was destined to occur—in 1774, 1775,
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or 1776. Show Less
By December 1775, the British had left or been expelled everywhere except in besieged Boston. Encyclopedic in exploring the political, economic, religious, ethnic, geographic, and military background of the Revolution, this is a richly satisfying, lucid history from the bestselling author.
Great for argumentative nonfiction book groups.
User reviews
LibraryThing member ebethe
So much to absorb. It took me the good part of a year to finish this baby, but I did. And I am more knowledgeable for it. Anyone that can write fact after fact and still keep my attention deserves at least a. Four star.
LibraryThing member Jarratt
I left this review unstarred as the writing style and focus just isn't my cup of tea. I consider myself a student of the American Revolution, our Founders, etc. But I went into this book expecting a narrative of 1775, not an academic analysis. So if that's your thing, I imagine this is very well
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done. I just found myself re-reading sentences and whole paragraphs multiple times only to find that I just really didn't care about the depth of detail Phillips was providing. Show Less
Original language
English
Physical description
656 p.; 9.3 inches
ISBN
0670025127 / 9780670025121