Customer Reviews

The American Revolution 1774-1783

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Daniel Marston does a nice job of condensing this nine-year war into its essential elements. The book contains the usual assortment of drawings and maps that are common among Osprey publications. The war is told in a simple chronological order. Of note is that the author routinely documents his facts. The text contains numerous references to primary sources that can validate the author's point.

The chapter on "The Fighting" breaks down the war by year. Within each year, the author further breaks down the conflict by geographic campaign (i.e.: Northern Campaign, Middle Atlantic Campaign, etc.). This writing technique segregates the war in a way that is easy for the reader to follow. The author also does a nice job of putting the Revolution in context of the wider global war. For example, a fair amount of time is spent on the engagements in the West Indies and India.

Unfortunately, some major battles are only given a brief description. Camden is described in about one paragraph. Also, the author does not really describe General Gates flight from the battle; a significant event. That said, the book does contain a nice color map to illustrate that engagement. The Battle of the Cowpens has one paragraph and no map. At least the book describes how Brigadier Daniel Morgan used his retreating militia to lure the British into a trap of waiting Continental troops. The Battle of Yorktown is described in detail, but the book would benefit from a graphic map. Only a photo of an 18th Century map supports the narrative of this battle.

The ending chapters provide a nice perspective on events other than battles. The chapter on "Portrait of a Civilian" gives a dark view of patriot activities. Quotes are taken from letters of that period to illustrate the rather barbaric treatment of loyalists at the hands of patriots. An incident of tar and feathering points out that the victim most likely died. "The War on the Home Front" provides an interesting description of the economic impact of the war. For example, the colonies experienced an initial burst of prosperity due to unrestricted trade. As the war dragged on, coin money became depleted and the colonies were forced to print paper money, which became increasingly worthless.

Bottom line: this is a pretty good synopsis of the Revolution. The author does cover all the major battles even though some engagements are given only a brief description. Other events, such as the treason of Benedict Arnold are also discussed in the briefest of detail. That said, the book is a relatively easy read and will provide the reader with an excellent overview of this conflict.

The books in this Essential Histories series typically provide an excellent overview. However, in this particular case, I was simply unable to follow the conflict because of the paucity of maps provided. The problem is that if you go to the internet and look up the places mentioned (in say, Multi-map) you are presented with a choice of 3 or 4 or even more places with the same name, and in broadly the same geographic area. Eg. to which of the multiplicity of Germantowns, Brandywines, etc. is the author referring? In some cases, I was unable to find the places mentioned on any map, or by using the internet. Unless this information is shown diagramatically, we cannot relate events to modern maps. Please revise this edition!