130 of 140 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Book, with pro-Southern Biases, August 8, 2007
This review is from: Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence (Hardcover)
Historian John Ferling sets out to define the causes for American victory in the War of Independence on the broad canvas of his magnum opus, Almost a Miracle. The author uses a remark General George Washington made after Yorktown - that American victory seemed almost a miracle - as a starting point for his dissection of just how the American rebels were able to defeat the greatest empire on earth. Almost a Miracle is a very well-written, well-argued historical work that sets out not only to narrate facts but to ascertain what they mean and whether or not the actual outcome was indeed a miracle, or only seemed that way at the time. The author handles this material deftly, but there are two issues of bias in his approach that may cause readers familiar with this subject to bristle. First, the author has a tendency to emphasize defects with familiar heroes of the Revolutionary era (Washington, Hamilton, Lafayette, Franklin), while praising men (Lee, Gates) who ended up with less than stellar records. Second, the author - who lives in the south - tends to exaggerate the importance of the south while neglecting to mention colonial demographics, that the percent of the population in the Carolinas and Georgia was small. Overall, Almost a Miracle succeeds in laying out a well-argued explanation for the American victory and if readers can overlook some of the author's bias, they will find a very satisfying intellectual look at why the American Revolution turned out the way it did.
Almost a Miracle consists of four main parts (Going to War, 1775-1776; the War in the North, 1776-1779; the War in the South, 1780-1781; and American Victory, 1781-1783), which are sub-divided into 25 chapters. The book also includes 25 maps, an 8-page bibliography and 75 pages of footnotes. Each chapter lays out part of the chronological narrative and the author uses the clever device of intercalary chapters labeled "choices" to discuss each sides strategic options and plans for the next year. While the author's writing style tends toward the academic, it is unencumbered enough to keep the narrative flow moving at a brisk pace.
Although this is primarily a strategic history, covering the war from both the British and American viewpoints, the author does provide a fairly comprehensive history of military operations, as well. The tactical detail varies and the early chapters on fighting in the north are far less detailed than chapters on fighting in the south, which is clearly the author's presence. Some battles, like Freeman's Farm in 1777, are covered primarily through first-person quotes which are interesting, but tell little about the overall action. The author provides enough detail to explain why a given battle turned out the way it did, but he spends comparatively little effort detailing the inner organization of each army or tactical lessons learned.
The author's characterization of key individuals is often difficult to accept, since most seem unduly harsh. While the author avoids outright hero-bashing, he clearly wants to take Washington and his key officers off their pedestals. I particularly found the author's constant snide remarks about Washington's "cronies" and "sycophants" (i.e. Alexander Hamilton, Lafayette) to be over-the-top. We all know about Washington's military deficiencies in terms of command experience and mistakes made, but these seem balanced by the battlefield victories he did achieve and in keeping an unpaid army intact for years. By any definition, Washington was a great commander, which explains why he was admired. The author also wants to elevate Gates and Lee, saying they "were among the few truly talented generals in the army" but were undone by Washington's resentment of military competitors. Where was that military talent ever demonstrated? Other than acting in the role of senior advisor to Washington in 1775-76, it's hard to see what Lee accomplished before he was captured. The author holds up Gates as the "victor of Saratoga" - denigrating the real heroes, Arnold and Morgan - and suggests that he too, was skewered by a whispering campaign by Washington's inner circle. When Gates runs away from the battlefield at Camden, the author makes excuses for him. When Lee's efforts lead to a near-rout at Monmouth, the author excuses him. While the author skewers one Revolutionary hero after another (even poor Ben Franklin), Gates and Lee enjoy immunity from criticism. This aspect of the book is irksome and does not add to the author's thesis.
So why did the Americans win? The author sees the key reasons as a string of British strategic mistakes: not committing enough troops to North America, failing to appreciate the extent of the rebellion early on, and failure to protect the Loyalists. The author agrees with several traditional conclusions about the over-caution of British commanders and the role of the French. He states that, "Britain possessed the capability to score a knockout punch during the war's early years...that the rebels were not crushed in1776 was due largely to General Howe." And, "French help was the single most important factor in determining the outcome of the War of Independence." Actually, these explanations tell us why the British lost the war, not how we won it.
The author favors the idea that the Southern Strategy adopted by the British in 1780-1781 might have salvaged a British victory by allowing them to hold onto 2-3 of the 13 original colonies. However, a British presence in the lower south after the war would have only pushed the newly-independent colonies to push more quickly for a federal constitution and regular army. The author's interpretation that the war "was won in the south" appears designed more to please regional tastes than to pass a test of analytic rigor (was an alternate hypothesis tested?). Overall, a good book on the Revolution, but not without its quirks.
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69 of 74 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Epic Chronicle of the Revolutionary War, June 24, 2007
This review is from: Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence (Hardcover)
Bringing to this book nearly forty years of teaching and writing experience, John Ferling is one of the premier authorities on the history of early America.
Ferling is the author of numerous books and articles on the American Revolution, including Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution; The World Turned Upside Down: The American Victory in the War of Independence; and A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic (2003), which won the Fraunces Tavern Book Award as the year's best book on the American Revolution.
In Almost a Miracle, Ferling, professor emeritus at the University of West Georgia, has written an engrossing, fast-paced military history of the Revolutionary War, from the first shots fired at Lexington and Concord to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
At the end of this eight-year war, George Washington remarked that the American victory was "little short of a standing miracle."
How did America emerge victorious?
Ferling's assessment of George Washington is a double-edged sword. Often out-generaled, Washington made several egregious blunders that, had the British commander (Howe) acted aggressively, would have ended the war almost before it began. Washington also was slow to recognize the importance of Britain's "Southern Strategy," believing that military action in the "backwater" South was of small importance.
And yet, Washington's Fabian strategy and tactics (employing frequent "hit-and-run" retreats and a defensive war of posts), held the tattered American forces together, through brutal winters at Valley Forge and Morristown, to live and fight another day.
"Washington alone," writes Ferling, "had the preparation for the office of commander in chief at the outset of the war and the intelligence, temper, and character necessary to grow in the office. His defects notwithstanding, fortune smiled on the infant nation when Washington was selected to lead it into the war."
Ferling points out that, although there was no turning point in the Revolutionary War, there were, however, significant victories that enhanced the American cause, such as the battles of Bunker Hill, Trenton and Princeton, Saratoga, and King's Mountain.
Inclement weather was also an important factor, causing both the British and the Americans to revise their battle plans, resulting in missed opportunities for success or narrow escapes from disaster. (Providence seems to have been confused as to which side to favor.)
"Battles often hinged on intangibles," writes Ferling, "such as leadership under fire, heroism, good fortune [luck?], blunders, resiliency, planning, tenacity, and surprise."
Above all, Ferling asserts, "French help [financial and military, especially the French fleet] was the single most important factor in determining the outcome of the War of Independence." While this is true, one should not sell short the sacrifices made by numerous soldiers and sailors who fought in the patriot cause.
In addition to military matters covered by other writers, Ferling provides a bonus: a more detailed coverage of the war at sea (including the heroic exploits of John Paul Jones) and, especially, of Britain's Southern Strategy and the partisan war (guerilla fighting) in the South, led by audacious and aggressive Nathanael Greene.
This book is a gripping chronicle of the epic struggle that gave birth to our nation. If anyone reading this book did not already know the outcome, he or she would fear for the patriot cause. The fact that America triumphed is, indeed, "almost a miracle."
Previous Books by John Ferling:
--A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic
--Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution
--The World Turned Upside Down: The American Victory in the War of Independence
--Struggle for a Continent: The Wars of Early America
--A Wilderness of Miseries: War and Warriors in Early America
--The First of Men: A Life of George Washington
--John Adams: A Life
--John Adams: A Biography
--Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800
--The Loyalist Mind: Joseph Galloway and the American Revolution
--Compromise or Conflict: The Rejection of the Galloway Alternative to Rebellion
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29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perspective on the War of Independence, June 18, 2007
This review is from: Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence (Hardcover)
Almost A Miracle is terrific telling of the Revolution, including its details, strategies, participants, daily human realities, the roles of luck and chance, and the might-have-beens of history. As a New Yorker I could actually picture Ferling's recreation of Washington's eight-abreast march down the Post Road as it proceeded from place to place and finally to Broadway as the last Continentals, black and white, re-took York Island in November 1783. That's good writing. I finally learned why a small city in South Carolina would be named for a Rhode Islander. Buffs and newcomers alike will enjoy the flow and perspective in Ferling's version of this oft-told tale. No Founding Era collection could be complete without it.
Reviews require criticisms too, and I have two: a book like this would benefit greatly by an Appendix or two that included a timeline and a cast of characters (sort of like White's Bitter Ocean). Secondly, all books have typos and grammatical faux pas - this one has too many.
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