Customer Reviews

Boston 1775: The Shot Heard Around the World (Praeger Illustrated Military History)

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How can anyone not love the Osprey series of books?

Whenever I'm researching a military campaign or would just like to know a more about what happened historically, I turn to the Osprey series of publications. They are well organized, written, and illustrated and provide the reader with state-of-the art maps and graphics.

This particular volume provides the essentials on the Battles of Concord/Lexington and Breed's (Bunker Hill). Author Brendan Morrissey covers the following:

- The Road to War (Colonial America and Colonial policies)

- The Seat of War (Boston in 1775)

- The Opposing Commanders

- The Opposing Armies

- Lexington and Concord (19 April 1775)

- Breed's Hill (17 June 1775)

- The Seige of Boston

- Aftermath

- The Battlefields Today

- Chronology

- A Guide to Further Reading

- Wargaming the Boston Campaign

In short, this neat book contains everything anyone needs to know about the opening campaign of the Revolutionary War that set the stage for a British defeat eight years latter.

Brendan Morrissey is an exceptional historian. He has the talent and scholarship to take the complex history of the battles of the American Revolution and summarize them into a compact, accurate, unbiased and immensely readable short format for the Osprey Campaign Series. His chose of artwork strongly supports the text and often includes uncommon artwork and illustrations. He consults with the major experts and keeps a neutral perspective concerning the combatants. I have all of his books in my collection.

Col. Kim R. Stacy, Savannah, GA, USA

His contribution to the Osprey Campaign Series includes:

Monmouth Courthouse 1778: The Last Great Battle in the North (Campaign)

Saratoga 1777: Turning Point of a Revolution (Campaign)

Quebec 1775: The American Invasion of Canada (Campaign)

Boston 1775: The Shot Heard Around the World (Campaign)

Yorktown 1781

The American Revolution: The Global Struggle for National Independence

On to Victory: Guilford Courthouse and Yorktown 1781 (The History Channel, American History Archives)

Virtually all the history of the American Revolution one is taught in the elementary grades and in high school in this country emphasizes the "heroic" aspects of the struggle. All the textbook accounts, too, are written very much from the American viewpoint. It's therefore very interesting to read a history of the beginnings of the war, from Concord to the siege of Boston, written by a British expert and giving equal time to the British point of view. Morrissey is not an academic historian but is a recognized military history expert who has also written texts on Saratoga, Quebec, and Yorktown. He begins here with the immediate background: Parliament's colonial policies, politics in New England, and Gage's dilemma in trying to prevent the conflict many could see coming. He examines the personalities and backgrounds of the senior military figures on both sides, and the frequent friction between the prim New Englanders and the unmannered frontier riflemen. Then he goes into detail in examining the nature of the soldiers on both sides -- infantry, cavalry, artillery, and irregulars. The battle maps are very detailed, as are the order of battle lists, and the color plates depicting the uniforms and weapons of units on both sides are up to Osprey's standard -- though there aren't as many as usual, and they're scattered through the text. An altogether excellent treatment of the key series of events in U.S. history that not enough people understand, or even really know about.

I bought this book at the Bunker Hill national monument recently, hoping it would fill in the gaps that David McCullough left out of his excellent 1776. Unfortunately, I finished the book only more desperate to find a book that not only solved my original dilemma but could also serve as an antidote to this one.

First, what the book is and what it is not. It is not a narrative of what took place in Boston in 1775. Instead, it is a sequential distillation of the military events of 1775 in and around Boston. To be fair, it is part of the Campaigns series so I should not fault it for not reaching for the same heights that McCullough did.

I would not have minded this approach, however, had the author been even remotely objective in his presentation of the known facts -- or perhaps even-handed, trading barbs against both sides. But, alas, Morrissey chooses to chide the colonists at every turn possible and to praise the redcoats for their forbearance and grace under pressure. It becomes laughable when page after page he continually defends the British taxes and the behavior of the British regulars while portraying the American leaders as having only profit motives for rebellion and the militia as misled rabble.

I am willing to hear of our own people's weaknesses: they are many. However, to fail to note that the other side was equally flawed in aspects of its approach grows wearisome after about page 10.

In sum, the book does have great maps and visuals -- the commentary on the etchings are first rate (except when they again accuse Americans of dealing unjustly with the British). I will keep the book on the shelf for reference, but will not recommend it.

This book had great visuals, but the writing just did not flow. I love learning about the Revolutionary War, but found myself bored with what was written. The book was quite brief so even though some points were tedious, it was a quick read.

Hard to believe a Brit can write a good book on the American revolution but here it is.

Well organized and nicely written and also very balanced. A fun read. Maps are very good.

Great stuff! Great maps and information - based upon fact and not fiction.