Customer Reviews

Angel in the Whirlwind: The Triumph of the American Revolution

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"Angel in the Whirlwind," written by Benson Bobrick, a teacher and author living in Vermont, is an excellent history of the war that resulted in the birth of our great nation. It's a book that doesn't attempt to break any new ground with "revisionist" historical theories. Instead, readers will find a good solid narrative of the events that led up to the Revolution, and of the war itself.

"Angel in the Whirlwind" begins by tracing the roots of the American Revolution. According to Bobrick, the American concept of liberty was born in the crucible of the Seven Years' War (1753-1760). During this period, colonial legislatures took it upon themselves to govern themselves. They regulated their own commerce and levied their own taxes with almost no interference from the British government. After the Seven Years' War ended, the British government once again began exercising its prerogative to regulate colonial commerce and impose new taxes. The result: political protest that eventually evolved into open rebellion.

Most of "Angel in the Whirlwind" concerns itself not with an analysis of the war's causes, but with the fighting of the war itself. Bobrick masterfully traces the major battles of the War for Independence, from the "shot heard `round the world" at Lexington, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775, to the final surrender of Lord Cornwallis' forces to General George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781. In between these key events, readers will be swept along by the tremendous courage of colonial troops at Bunker Hill, Long Island, Trenton, Princeton, and Saratoga; the incredible suffering at Valley Forge and Morristown, New Jersey; and the internecine conflict between Loyalist and Patriot throughout the war...

Although Bobrick's battle descriptions are fairly brief (the book only runs to 495 pages) they are clear, concise, well organized, and imbued with superb historical accuracy. You won't get that "gunpowder, smoke, and chaos of battle" feel that you'll gain in such books as Richard Ketchum's "Decisive Day" and "Saratoga;" you will, however, gain an appreciation for the hardships and suffering endured by those who fought, and sometimes died, on the battlefields of the Revolution.

In "Angel in the Whirlwind," Benson Bobrick eloquently captures the sweep and scope of the founding of our nation. Although this book is imbued with tremendous scholarship, it's never boring. Bobrick keeps an excellent pace throughout his well crafted narrative. Bobrick's analyses of events are carefully constructed and his arguments lucid and effectively explained. At certain points, he even manages to interject a bit of humor into his narrative. I found myself quite amused by his descriptions of British General "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne's personal entourage, during his 1777 campaign through the thickets of Canada and upstate New York.

"Angel in the Whirlwind" is one of the best contemporary surveys of the American Revolution available today. It's not the most detailed, and it doesn't provide any new historical revelations; but it's scholarly, entertaining and easy to understand, and will provide readers with an excellent background to our nation's War of Independence. An essential book for any history buff's bookshelf!

Angel in the Whirlwind is a one-volume narrative history of the American Revolution. Although not as quickly paced as Bobrick's earlier works on Russia, "Angel" is well-written and quite enjoyable. I was particularly impressed by the effort to provide background and context for the events of 1775-1783: the first 20% of the book gives information on life in the colonies and the evolving (i.e., deteriorating) relationship between Britain and the future US. The first shots at Lexington green don't appear in the book until page 117 (of 495).

All the characters and events one would expect are here. I have two quibbles with the presentation: (1) It would have been nice to see more discussion of why the British gave up after Yorktown; and (2) (as with almost every book of this type published today) More maps are needed!

I came to Amazon looking for a good overview of the Revolutionary War, having forgotten many of the events that led to the creation of this country. I found it in Bobrick's Angel in the Whirlwind.

The book starts with the events leading to disunion with Great Britain. Bobrick clearly lays out the reasons for the war, offering the reader a good background on what was to come.

The war is told more or less chronologically, with some skipping about to more effectively address certain points. Perhaps some additional maps and timelimes throughout the book would have helped in the overall presentation, but an astute reader will follow along well.

I can't recommend the book enough to anybody wishing to revisit this amazing time in the world's history.

This book was a good overview of the American Revolutionary period. The chapter on colonial society was one of the finest I ever read. The author gives a great narrative of the battles and sometimes, I could not put it down. I think that several more maps would have helped to give the readers more of an immediate sense of things, but I know the author wanted to tell the story. I felt it was a little difficult to determine the action of things without them though. I was especially impressed with the author's ability to undo a lot of the elementary school jargon concerning the men and women of the time. It is nice to know that Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the other fathers and mothers had issues to work through too. It accents a point I tell my students - that people in the grand span of time have not changed a whole lot - that they dealt with good, evil, and all the personality whoopla. Bobrick's ability to see the revolution through the leaders and the common person really is the genious of this book. It was a time that tried men's souls and they were at a loss sometimes to do something. The other genious of the work is how the author showed how they worked through their problems and finished the job. A lot of people cannot do that today. A great read.

This is the first history of the American Revolutionary period that I actually enjoyed reading "for fun." Mr. Bobrick's obvious skills as an author have turned this exciting and inspirational period into just that. I knew this book was going to be fantasic about half way through the chapter on colonial America. While his focus is not on this period, Mr. Bobrick brings this era to life with colorful stories and interesting facts. I am a high school history teacher and am always on the look out for great stories and "interesting" history. THIS IS IT!!!

Bobrick has written a thorough and entertaining overview of the American Revolution from start to finish. He gives good conscise details of the battles fought, and provides numerous anecdotal stories of the participants not found in other historical accounts I have read. Bobrick also does a wonderful job of humanizing George Washington, and his insights into the great Generals trials and tribulations will invoke even greater respect and admiration for the father of our country. I highly recommend this book.

This is the best and most readable overview of the American Revolution I have ever read. The personality of George Washington, in particular, comes vividly to life; that he was indispensable to the events that took place is completely clear after reading this book. The material is detailed and yet moving and very readable. I couldn't put it down. I wish high school students would read it. I believe they'd understand their unique heritage as Americans if they did.

Mr. Bobrick has assembled a thorough overview of the American Revolution, and more specifically those challenges faced by George Washington in fighting a war against the most powerful nation in the world at the time. However, the volume's lack of detailed maps left me with a confusing sense of space and time as it related to the movements of the armies. It is easy to jump from Saratoga, NY to Yorktown, VA in just a few dozen pages, but without giving the reader some sense of the distance involved, or even the spatial relationship between these large bodies of men, Mr. Bobrick's concise text loses meaning.

Bobrick has written a clear, engaging one-volume history of the American Revolution. That's quite an achievement in itself, considering how the usual tellings of American origins have bored countless schoolchildren into hating history. I would heartily recommend "Angel in the Whirlwind" as a textbook for any age, and especially schoolchildren. We all can benefit from a true story well told. That said, I did expect more from it. Slavery, the worm at the very heart of the apple, was only lightly touched on. The colonists themselves were still largely a mystery; we learn what they liked to drink in the pubs, but where they got the history-shattering gumption to rebel ... well, where did they? It seems off-hand when it was certainly anything but. And once the war is launched, the book becomes little more than a war story -- general this, battle that, all good primer information but certainly not the whole story. And there were red herrings -- British atrocities were laid out, but did the Americans also commit equal atrocities? In the balance of history, were both sides equally guilty of savagery or can we safely, perhaps smugly, continue assuming the Founding Fathers were good guys all around? And last ... the book's lack of maps is unforgiveable and unexplainable. It needed paintings, too. Still, speaking for myself, if launched a whole series of American Revolutionary books on my personal reading program, and it was indeed a fine place to start.

It is difficult to appreciate, from our contemporary perspective, the severity of the hardships and the challenge that the Founding Fathers (and more importantly, the patriot citizens) faced in 1775. To motivate a dispersed, diverse, uncooperative (at times) colonial population which was coming into prosperity after facing the horrors of frontier life and the French and Indian war, to risk all - life, liberty, property - in pursuit of freedom. Our grade school teaching glosses over the names and places but leaves no impression of how close a thing our American Revolution really was. If we were fortunate, we had a more scholarly, detailed treatment sometime before we matriculated from college - in most cases, not even then. Bobrick, in his 'Angel...' makes a noble attempt to treat the subject with the depth and passion that it deserves. Written along the lines of Foote's 'Civil War Narrative', while falling short of the mark of that great literary epic, Bobrick still earns high marks for his own narrative style and historical technique. The true test is the depth of the characters, are they real people or just block stereotypes or the myths that have persisted over time? In Bobrick's case, they are all real, poignantly so. Washington the great leader, but also the shy, declining personality. Jefferson the great author behind the Declaration of Independence, but also in many ways a sideline player compared to his later adversary John Adams. Benedict Arnold, traitor in the end, but an effective patrior warrior in the beginning. Cornwallis, Howe, Burgoyne and Clinton, arrogance and ego, brought to defeat by not just Washington but also Greene, Morgan and that 'boy', Lafayette. Bobrick's work is not a military history per se - the battles (Bennington, Trenton, Long Island, King's Mountain, Cowpens, etc. leading to Yorktown) are adequately described only in the context of the overall narrative - but given the limits of what can be told within a single volume, Bobrick did very well. And this rebellion was a very close thing - the persistent loyalist sentiment, the inability to clothe, feed and pay the Continental Army, the unstable nature of the French alliance, the refusal of the various colonies to work in a united fashion - all worked against the successful rebellion. Yet the Angel was there, the hand of Providence. Also there were the seeds of the nation's future: westward expansion, terrible Civil War, imperial strength as the arsenal of democracy. Do yourself a favor and redress your ignorance over your country's birth - pick up Bobrick's 'Angel .....' and appreciate your ancestors' brave story of honor, sacrifice and commitment to freedom for future generations to come.