The Fire of Liberty

by Esmond Wright and Edmund (ed) WRIGHT

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312292015
• ISBN13: 9780312292010
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Interesting Perspectives

We (Americans) sometimes forget that there is another side of the Revolutionary War. I am not talking about "rich merchants, slaveholders or landed gentry" or any of the other terms so in vogue to describe those who fought. It is the British side, the Mother country, the land that gave birth to our own nation.We were extremely lucky to have been colonized by England. They instilled in the colonies an admiration for representative and participatory government. Plus, the British were civilized. Revolts against Chinese, Russian, Mongolian, Turkish or African rulers were met with at a minimum devastation and normally, decimation. India is free only beause Britain was the colonial ruler - Ghandi would have been helpess against any of the former mentioned empires. The book, told through a combination of letters and commentary by the author is punctuated with portraits, maps, drawings and illustrations which serve to lighten the text. We discover interesting side facts - the pay of various member of the army, songs of the day, customs, what soldiers REALLY thought. Strategy on both sides is detailed and the politics of the era is always a shadown overhanging the military conflict. Great book if a little dry.

British view of the American Revolution

This is a compilation of letters, diary entries, and accounts from various participants and witnesses, to the principle events, on the battlefield anyway, of the American Revolutionary War. Editor Wright interposes commentary linking the various quotes, and is generally judicious and even-handed. The quotes are mostly a paragraph or two, and occasionally just a sentence, and they are sorted by year. The edition of this book I got was from the Folio Society, a British book club that does premium editions of books, and they include color illustrations that often don't accompany other editions. Given that, this is a worthwhile addition to any library on the American Revolution, though serious historians would find it a bit superficial, I think.