2008-03-20 All the story - military, politics, economics and society

This is an interesting book. I know quite a lot about the American Civil War, but relatively little about the American revolution. This book rectified that deficit. It also made it clear that my preconceptions - outmoded Brit generals confounded by American sharpshooters - were somewhat inaccurate.
Yes, the British generals were not exactly top quality, but the real problem was the fact that Britain could not find enough troops to fight a war on a continental scale. Add to that the lack of coordination between the armies and you have a recipe for failure.
In real terms the British only lost two major battles - Saratoga and Yorktown - in eight years but that was enough to precipitate a crisis at home and bring conciliators to the fore in Britain.
Perhaps the war is best summed up by the US commander Nathanael Greene, "We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again." This is a useful book if you want to find out about the revolution and its social, economic and political setting, as well as the basic military information.