the glorious cause the american revolution

The other interesting thing I continue to see again and again as I read more of the history of the United States is to see how so many of our current dilemmas, arguments, problems, etc were baked right into the United States from its earliest days - indeed, some even before the very founding of the republic.

The Americans (and Britons) who ensured that it didn't are well detailed in many sidebars throughout. Based on my own larger reading, I still can't help thinking what an EXCEEDINGLY precarious enterprise the American Revolution was, prone to being snuffed out for any number of reasons throughout the long struggle. There seems to be great truth in the argument, if accepting the aformentioned largely radicalized American populace as mentioned above. Middlekauff seems to hint that Britain lacked the political will to deploy the tremendous resources necessary to subdue the continent. Likewise, it at times adopts almost a fait accompli tone to the revolution's eventual success - though it is quite careful to point out at numberous points where the British blew it politically and militarily in attempts to contain and/or end the conflict on their terms. This book goes to some lengths to explain and document just how radical much of America was before the revolution (which flies in the face of some of my collegiate history instructors, who pitched the revolution as more of a minority driven phenomenon).

I didn't personally find it quite as engrossing as 'Empire of Liberty' or 'What Hath God Wrought,' but still extremely interesting and informative. Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes DetailsĪnother excellent entry in the Oxford History of the United States. The Glorious Cause is number III in The Oxford History of the United States. Please note: The individual volumes of the series have not been published in historical order. Praised as “state of the art” and “the most distinguished series in American historical scholarship”, the four new volumes of the Oxford History of the United States – including The Glorious Cause – are narrated with engagingly casual warmth by Robert Fass, who previously read an earlier volume in the series, Empire of Liberty, by Gordon S. This panoramic view of the conflict between England and America combines the political and the personal, giving the listener a vivid sense of how the colonists perceived the events of their struggle for independence, from the French and Indian War to “the shot heard round the world”, and the importance the colonists assigned to them. The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.

The glorious cause the american revolution