The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution [Paperback]

Barnet Schecter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 2003

The Battle for New York tells the story of how the city became the pivot on which the American Revolution turned: from the political and religious struggles of the 1760s and early '70s that made the city a hotbed of political action to the campaign of 1776 that turned today's five boroughs and Westchester County into a series of battlefields to the seven years of British occupation and martial law. The struggle for control of New York was by far the largest military venture of the Revolutionary War, involving almost every significant participant on both sides from General William Howe to Nathan Hale, Benedict Arnold to George Washington. Barnet Schecter brilliantly links eighteenth-century events with the city's modern landscape, illuminating the forgotten battlefield that remains in our midst.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Schecter here presents in sometimes overwhelming detail the story of New York from the beginning of the American Revolution in the spring of 1775 to the city's evacuation by the British late in 1783. The military operations of 1776 are the central focus, as the British occupied the city in order to advance up the Hudson River and unite with another force coming down from Canada. British Gen. William Howe landed troops on Long Island and routed the colonial army on August 27. In despair but persevering, Gen. George Washington listened to subordinates and managed to evacuate his troops from Long Island that night, even as the British navy awaited nearby. And Washington kept running, evacuating New York City in mid-September (with some minor fighting at Harlem Heights, Throg's Neck and White Plains) and withdrawing into New Jersey after losing more than 2,600 captured at Fort Washington. The British navy held New York City under martial law for the rest of the war, forced to maintain its presence there after the army moved to the South. Schecter details the lives of area loyalists, more than 29,000 of whom went to Canada after the war. Although many readers will find some of the abundant operational material hard going, Schecter's research is impeccable, and his battlefield tour of today's New York brings immediacy to the story. 8 maps and 65 illus. not seen by PW.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

When we think of America and the Civil War, we usually think of the blue and the gray. But as historian Ketchum (The Winter Soldiers) points out in his newest book, America's first Civil War occurred nearly a century earlier. Ketchum uses New York City as the backdrop to describe the events that ultimately led to war, beginning with British Prime Minister Walpole's policy of "salutary neglect" (i.e., the Colonies were best served by avoiding war, encouraging trade, and keeping taxes low) to George III's efforts to tax the Colonies to pay war debts and his rejection of a final peace proposal in 1775. Ketchum uses two prominent New York families, the DeLanceys and the Livingstons, one with loyalist tendencies and the other patriotic, to illustrate the complex issues that not only divided the country but split families and set neighbor against neighbor. Ketchum's narrative style and frequent use of firsthand accounts makes for easy reading and brings the participants to life. What results is a good companion to Schecter's The Battle for New York, since Schecter essentially picks up where Ketchum leaves off, on the eve of war, and describes the struggles of the British to hold on to New York City. Ketchum's book also includes an appendix of the principal characters. Recommended for medium to large public libraries. (Index not seen.) Schecter, a professional writer and historian, makes the case for New York City's being the strategic axis around which the Revolutionary War revolved. Schecter shows again and again how Great Britain's desire to hold New York City cost it the war effort, beginning with Gen. William Howe's slow invasion, in which he missed several opportunities to trap Washington in favor of securing the city, and ending with Gen. Henry Clinton's failure to reinforce Cornwallis because of his apprehensions about a possible attack on the city. The easy narrative style is enhanced by numerous quotes, allowing the actual players to tell their part of the story. This book is of special interest to those who live in and around New York, as it includes details about the fortifications of the two armies complete with references to current locations in the city and a walking tour. Well researched and written, this book is recommended for libraries in the New York area and those with comprehensive American Revolution collections.
Robert K. Flatley, Frostburg State Univ. Libs., MD
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (October 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142003336
• ISBN-13: 978-0142003336
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #719,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid Addition To Revolutionary War Canon, October 28, 2002

By 

Bruce Loveitt (Ogdensburg, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Battle for New York (Hardcover)

Despite the title, this book provides a good general history of the American Revolution but, from a military standpoint, starting with the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776 rather than with Lexington and Concord in 1775. Anyone who has read extensively concerning the battles will not really find anything new about Saratoga, Trenton, Princeton, Guilford Courthouse, Yorktown, etc. However, for the general reader, the book does provide good summaries of many battles and may whet your appetite to read books that are more specific....such as the volumes written by Richard Ketchum on Saratoga, and Trenton/Princeton. For the person who has already read quite a bit about the Revolutionary War, what makes this book worthwhile is Mr. Schecter's focus in the first half of the book on the battles in and near New York City, and in the second half of the book his arguments, generally convincing, that New York City was always important to the strategy of both sides. Even though the British occupied New York City, they were always worried about the rebels launching a counterattack, especially once the French allied themselves with the Americans. As British resources were limited, and as tremendous distances were involved, this nagging concern with New York City prevented the British from concentrating their forces sufficiently to be able to deliver a knockout blow. Mr. Schecter has some interesting things to say about the Battles of Brooklyn, Harlem Heights, etc. While not downplaying the strategic errors made by the rebel forces, the author is persuasive when he makes his point that these battles were not quite as one-sided as they have been portrayed in the past. Although it is true that the British took many more prisoners than the Americans did, the dead and wounded on the British side were usually greater...once the Hessian losses are factored in. This is a key point, as the British traditionally tended "not to count" the losses sustained by their mercenary forces. And while many historians down through the years have pointed out that the British commander General Gage missed several opportunities, by his conservative strategy, to trap and destroy (or force a total capitulation by) Washington's forces, Mr. Schecter points out that one reason, though certainly not the only reason, for this conservative strategy was a grudging and growing respect for the willingness of the Americans to fight. Yes, it is true that there was sometimes panic and hasty retreat on the rebel side, but there were several instances, also, of stubborn fighting...which resulted in those not inconsiderable British/Hessian casualties. This book does have some weaknesses: Mr. Schecter has an annoying habit, especially in the first half of the book, of disrupting the narrative by providing detailed information concerning current day locations of where much of the action took place. A reader that does not possess an intimate knowledge of New York City will find this information to be extraneous, and I assume there will be many such readers. Another glaring weakness is the maps. There are not enough of them and they are poorly placed- usually after rather than just before or during the narrative descriptions of the battles. On the plus side, Mr. Schecter's main thesis is interesting, he writes well and he includes many first-person quotations (which help bring the story to life). Particularly enlightening and amusing are the excerpts from the memoirs of a soldier, Joseph Plumb Martin, who fought throughout the war. He may have been a "common" soldier, but his wit, insights and writing ability were quite uncommon. Thanks to Mr. Martin we are brought down from the stratosphere of grand strategy and politics to the cold earth of the battlefield- where the citizen-soldier usually had inadequate clothing and would sometimes go several days without food or sleep......and his bed would be the hard ground and the ceiling consisted of the stars.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect subtitle, April 23, 2004

By 

Rocco Dormarunno (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution (Paperback)

When one thinks of the Revolutionary Era in America, one might tend to think of Concord and Lexingtion, Boston, Monmouth, Philadelphia, Valley Forge, or a dozen other places before ever giving Manhattan a thought. This, as Barnet Schecter's brilliant history, "The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution", is an undeserved slight to New York. As his perfect subtitle states, New York City was the pivotal center--the "heart"--of the Revolution.

Too much had happened in New York to dismiss its role immediately before, during, and after the war. One example: the Battle of Golden Hill (at the present John Street) in which British troops fired upon and killed American patriots occurred more than a month before the Boston Massacre, which has been long regarded as the first skirmish between colonists and the Crown. Mr. Schecter appropriately emphasizes the Battle of Brooklyn (or the Battle of Long Island) and how Washington's strategic (and lucky) evacuation across the East River and through Manhattan turned the tide of the war: the war could've been over then and there had Washington's army been captured. There are more stories, there is more evidence of the critical role New York played during the nascent years of the United States, and, Mr. Schecter has wonderfully captured this undeniable fact.

For a complete understanding of New York's role in this conflict, I recommend reading: "Divided Loyalties" by Richard Ketchum, which presents the political and social tensions of the city in the years before the Revolution; "The Battle of Brooklyn" by John Gallagher for a detailed examination of the weeks before, during and after this first large-scale confrontation between the British and Americans; and then Schecter's book--IN THAT ORDER. Each book picks up where the previous one had left off. There are other good books about New York's involvement in the Revolution, but these three can give you as close to a complete understanding of it as possible.


"The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution" is one of those books that fulfills a large gap in our complete understanding of that war and that era in history.
For that reason, Mr. Schecter is to be thanked for his contribution.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, entertaining account of a close to home battle, November 16, 2002

By 

Robert Ehrlich (florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Battle for New York (Hardcover)

As a born and bred New Yorker I was fascinated to read about the close to home battles fought in the early days of the Revolution. Those concrete NYC masses were once bucolic fields and small hamlets. Battles were fought where we now have massive bridges and urban sprawl. Schecter tells the story with an engaging style of a novel. He does not overwhelm us with tactics or military details. He tells a more personal account of the men and women who fought in this battle. What is also interesting is how the loyalties were clearly split among New Yorkers. This was not a revolution of unanimity. The British Loyalists felt that their attachments to the crown were as patriotic as the cause of the revolutionaries. Well done Mr. Shecter.