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Title: Angel in the Whirlwind: The Triumph of the American Revolution by Benson Bobrick ISBN: 0-14-027500-2 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: July, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.42 (38 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A wonderful overview of the American Revolution.
Comment: In this work, Bobrick provides an overview of the history of the American Revolution. The book begins with a review of life and issues in the colonies, and provides brief biographies of all of the colonial leaders. From the tensions of the resistance, to the outbreak of war, a vivid picture of the evolution of the colonial resistance is presented. At the onset of the account of the war, the narration focuses on the military actions of the war, and the struggles that the military had in fighting the war. In this form of narration, Bobrick largely ignores many of the philosophical movements in Congress, and the formation of a new form of government. These issues, however, fill books of thier own, and are best left to other works. I strongly recommend this book as either a military history, or as a companion to many of the recent works on the personalities and issues of the revolution. (e.g. Ellis' "American Sphinx" and Maier's "American Scripture".) Overall, a very interesting and readable book.
Rating: 3
Summary: Slightly Better Than Adequate
Comment: Bobrick's book fulfills its own limited ambitions well: "Angel in the Whirlwind" is an effective one-volume history of the War of Independence. But any reader with a good memory of high-school history lessons will find little new here, and readers who are more familiar with Revolutionary history will be disappointed.
The book starts with a solid exposition of late Colonial history and the train of events that led inexorably from the Plains of Abraham to the siege of Yorktown. In the first three chapters, Bobrick lays the foundation of a wide-ranging discussion of Revolutionary-era society, which is necessary to answer the hows and whys of the story. But he quickly focuses first on the Continental Congress and then, in the last half of the book, on the war's military campaigns, and the book never adequately returns to the substantive social questions. From chapter 8 ("New York") until the final chapter ("The End of the Beginning"), the book becomes a mediocre military history, with only occasional and disappointing forays into other topics.
Congress, the great mass of ordinary people, the American economy, Washington's extensive espionage activities, myriad local and state rebellions, state constitutional reforms -- these and many other important topics are given the shaft when Bobrick turns his focus on the clash of arms. It is as if America went to sleep between 1776 and 1781.
The book is at its best when a strong narrative and some analysis is called for, such as in chapter 17 ("West Point") which details Benedict Arnold's descent into treason. Bobrick does an exceptional job, for an American historian, of telling the British and American Loyalist stories, at least in the context of fighting the war. Bobrick also relies heavily on the letters of John Adams and Washington, two keen observers of and central actors in the Revolutionary drama who were also both excellent letter-writers. Bobrick serves the reader well by calling on these two voices often and at length.
The great strength of the book is its narrative flow. This is a popular history of the first order; it reads at times like a thriller. However, this can lead Bobrick to sloppiness with events and facts, such as when he says of the Constitution of 1787, "The executive power would reside in the person of a president, who would be elected indirectly (according to a kind of paradox) by direct popular vote ..." This is true now, but it was not true in the 18th century, when most presidential electors were elected, as the Constitution provides, by the state legislatures.
So "Angel in the Whirlwind" is a good candidate to serve as the basic text of a high-school-level history of the War of Independence. For those not familiar with the period, Bobrick offers a valuable introduction that is clear and gripping. But to those who have already covered the material, in school or on their own, "Angel in the Whirlwind" offers only empty calories.
Three stars for its superior adequacy. If you're 14 years old, and your history teachers have served you as poorly as mine had to that point, "Angel in the Whirlwind" is closer to five-stars. If you already have a working knowledge of the Revolution, the book might not even warrent two.
Rating: 3
Summary: Dry as a bone...with nary a map to wet my whistle...
Comment: Mr. Bobrick has assembled a thorough overview of the American Revolution, and more specifically those challenges faced by George Washington in fighting a war against the most powerful nation in the world at the time. However, the volume's lack of detailed maps left me with a confusing sense of space and time as it related to the movements of the armies. It is easy to jump from Saratoga, NY to Yorktown, VA in just a few dozen pages, but without giving the reader some sense of the distance involved, or even the spatial relationship between these large bodies of men, Mr. Bobrick's concise text loses meaning.
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Title: Wide As the Waters: The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired by Benson Bobrick ISBN: 0142000590 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution by Bernard Bailyn ISBN: 0674443020 Publisher: Belknap Pr Pub. Date: March, 1992 List Price(USD): $19.50 |
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Title: George Washington's War : Saga of the American Revolution, The by Robert Leckie ISBN: 006092215X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 15 September, 1993 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Battles of the Revolutionary War, 1775-1781 (Major Battles and Campaigns ; 3) by W. J. Wood, John S. D. Eisenhower ISBN: 0306806177 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: April, 1995 List Price(USD): $17.50 |
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Title: Testament : A Soldier's Story of the Civil War by Benson Bobrick ISBN: 0743250915 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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