PositiveLibrary JournalAfter distinguishing between privateers and pirates (often merely lawless, ruthless thieves), acclaimed author Dolin deftly defends and demonstrates the crucial impact of American privateering on the Revolutionary war effort...Primary and secondary sources support Dolin’s detailed description of the vicissitudes of this controversial, prevalent, extremely risky, yet lucrative practice...Privateering filled gaps in American military efforts, inspiring hope and perseverance; boosted local economies; secured vital military and commercial supplies and hard currency; impaired British trade and strained the British navy; increased, with French cooperation, enmity between France and Britain, drawing France into the war...Scholars and general readers will enhance their knowledge of an often-neglected yet essential aspect of Revolutionary War history with Dolin’s cogent, absorbing, thoroughly researched account.
David Hackett Fischer
RaveLibrary JournalHe argues that historians should not focus solely on the tragic moral paradox of racism and slavery without also considering the positive, enduring impacts that enslaved and free Africans have had on the United States’ founding ideals ... This riveting, extensive study will prove invaluable to students of the history of slavery and African American history.
Willard Sterne Randall
PositiveLibrary JournalIn an engaging style, Randall skillfully compiles material from extensive research regarding the compelling impact of the Founders’ personal financial interests on their political decision-making—from rebelling against Britain through ratifying the Constitution—but contends that they were not driven exclusively by personal gain ... This accessible, concise, yet informative work would benefit from a conclusion summarizing Randall’s observations. It will appeal to general readers and academics.
Woody Holton
RaveLibrary JournalHolton\'s detailed account, spanning from 1763 to 1795, reveals little-known factors that gradually transformed resistance into rebellion, and complexities of military decisions and encounters gone wrong and of the war\'s far-reaching and enduring aftermath ... Holton\'s exhaustive, masterfully written chronicle demonstrates that the Revolution was much more than a movement instigated by the political ideologies of a handful of elite, revered (although flawed) Founding Fathers against the British parliament and king. This book will be pivotal for scholars and requested by American history enthusiasts.
H.W. Brands
PositiveLibrary JournalThis engaging book, which includes often-neglected Indigenous and Black perspectives of the war, reads like the story of a contentious extended family, as opposed to a traditional military history. It will appeal to a wide audience.
Joseph J. Ellis
RaveLibrary JournalEllis\'s witty style and astute analysis make this essential reading for historians and enthusiasts at all levels who want to disentangle the complex historiography of the American Revolution.
Nathaniel Philbrick
PositiveLibrary JournalPhilbrick doesn\'t excuse Washington\'s faults, and the contradictions are glaring ... He intends to give readers a more complete understanding of Washington\'s efforts to sustain unity ... This enjoyable read, as intensely researched as all of Philbrick\'s books, offers insight into the motivations and career of the author (a self-described history geek), and the vision, character, and impact of Washington. For history readers at all levels.
Alan Taylor
PositiveLibrary JournalThis insightful and engaging survey is essential reading for scholars as well as casual readers of history.
Claudio Saunt
PositiveLibrary Journal...a hard, clear look at the ways Natives were dispossessed of their land in the decade after the passage of the 1830 Indian Removal Act ... This valuable addition to the scholarship of Native American dispossession and extermination should be read by scholars and general readers alike.
Mary Beth Norton
PositiveLibrary JournalNorton’s cogent discussion of the details of the \'long year\' will appeal to colonial and revolutionary period scholars and enthusiasts. Her inclusion of suppressed female and loyalist voices should be applauded.
Nina Sankovitch
RaveLibrary JournalSankovitch highlights the significant impact of Braintree daughters and wives Abigail Smith Adams and Dorothy (Quincy) Hancock, among others, who shared their husbands’ beliefs, influenced their work, and endured their trials; she includes the challenges of loyalists Samuel Quincy and Jonathan Sewell (husband of Esther Quincy and close friend to John Adams) ... Sankovitch has woven a compelling, potent chronicle of members of three principal American families that will be valued by readers of American history at all levels.
Martyn Whittock
PositiveLibrary JournalFor Whittock, the stories of these complex, interconnected lives, their successes and shortcomings, for better or worse, have imparted fundamental and enduring influence on American culture and identity ... This accessible book, among several that have demythologized Mayflower history, will appeal to readers at all levels.
Robert L. O'Connell
PositiveLibrary JournalNeither a thorough biography nor a mere recap of the Revolutionary War, this work is a history of the events and experiences that shaped George Washington\'s ambitions, ideologies, and character, and fueled his revolutionary zeal ... O\'Connell debunks myths and explains motives, shortcomings, and misperceptions in this historical saga that will engage both general and academic readers.
Martha Saxton
RaveLibrary JournalBy recounting the known details of Mary\'s life from the few remaining family letters and legal documents, Saxon skillfully fills in the gaps, relating Mary\'s story in the context of legal, economic, and social realities of 18th-century Virginia planter society ... All readers will value this vivid account that corrects Mary\'s record and reveals the dilemmas and distorted sensibility of Virginian slave-holding white women, along with the devastation caused by the Revolutionary War
Tina Cassidy
PositiveLibrary JournalCassidy...briefly traces the early careers of women\'s right activist Alice Paul and former U.S. president Woodrow Wilson before centering her narrative on Paul\'s aggressive 1913–20 suffragist strategy that, she implies, defined the evolution of Wilson\'s views ... General readers will appreciate this treatment of the efforts of Paul, a heroine of the women\'s rights movement.
Rob Reich
PositiveLibrary JournalSome of the material here was published previously in journal articles and book chapters, but Reich reworks the information to appeal to nonscholars, hoping they will put more thought into theories of philanthropy ... Recommended for philanthropists, nonprofit leaders, policymakers, and anyone interested in political science, economics, and philosophy.
