My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The United States of America was first forged in the fires of the American Revolution. The War for Independence is where the American experiment in self-government truly begins. But, aside from the key moments in the first years of the Revolution, few Americans know how the war was fought and won. There have been some books that have focused on a particular battle or person during the Revolution, but too few authors have attempted to take a more comprehensive look at the entire war. This book from the author of the Liberation Trilogy, which charted America fighting in the European Theater during World War II, rectifies that with an incredibly thorough look at the first two years of the American Revolution.
The first thing that should strike readers about this book is just how balanced it is. Rather than just focus the Americans, which is easy to do, Mr. Atkinson has done an incredible amount of research on the British side of the war, even accessing papers from King George III that had not been previously made public or even catalogued by the British government. This incredible amount of research gives a sympathetic light to both the Americans and the British and shows that, while British had far greater resources at hand than the Americans, the war effort on the British end wasn't smooth sailing either. It also gives a certain amount of balance and credence to the book, especially when Mr. Atkinson talks about how it was mostly rabid American patriots, not the British, who destroyed Norfolk, VA, in 1776 (though the British did do some damage too).
The other great thing about this book is just how crystal clear Mr. Atkinson's descriptions of the battles are. Through the use of maps and amazing descriptive details, Mr. Atkinson shows just how bloody and brutal the fighting could get. His descriptions of the Battles of Bunker Hill and Princeton were particular high points. Admittedly, some of the descriptions could get a little muddled, but I think that was more my fault than Mr. Atkinson's.
What is missing from this book are some of the political details. There are very few discussions about the debates in Congress or Parliament, with only some focus given to key political leaders, like Ben Franklin, John Adams, Lord North, Lord Germain, and, of course, King George III. Indeed, there is zero talk about the debates over the Declaration of Independence. It just shows up in Washington's camp in New York one day and is read to the troops soon afterwards. This is, actually, all for the best as Mr. Atkinson's focus on the military aspects of the war, not the minutiae of revolutionary politics. Besides, there plenty of other books that talk about the politics, so Mr. Atkinson is wise to focus on the fighting instead. He does give attention to the diplomatic side though as an entire chapter is devoted to Ben Franklin's arrival in France in late 1776. It only makes up one small chapter in an otherwise large book, but I would not be surprised in Mr. Atkinson is previewing some themes in his future volumes.
Overall, this is the book on the War for Independence that I and, I assume, a lot of other military history buffs have been waiting for. It's going to be a long, hard wait for volume two of this new series and I, for one, will be waiting in eager anticipation for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment