It was a very ‘big’ (i.e. important) war in which my country of birth (Britain) was involved in, so I feel like I should know a bit about it. (and want to know a bit about it)
I have searched a few book shops so far and couldn’t find a single one.
I know I will find one if I look hard enough, ask, use amazon. But that’s not the point, the point is they are few and far between.
Is it really the case that brits are reluctant to buy a book about a war which Britain lost, and so the books don’t sell well, and so supply is reduced?
Or is there another reason for the lack of books on the subject?
Or am I just stupid and have missed something obvious?
I can’t answer your question, but I can recommend a book: The American Revolution by Edward Countryman. It’s a great overview, not too long, amd an easy read.
I just found a new one : “A Few Bloody Noses : The Realities and Mythologies of the American Revolution” by Robert Harvey. Haven’t started it yet, but it looks pretty good.
I think your problem may be that you’re on the wrong side of the pond. There’s scads of books on the subject in our libraries over here in the States, but maybe that’s because we won.
Here in the U.S., it’s more commonly called the Revolutionary War, or Revolution. You may well know that, but if not, that might be helpful in your search.
My understanding is that although the American Revolution was of profound significance to the U.S., it was of rather minor import to Britain. Hence it is given light mention in British histories, and apparently doesn’t generate much demand for books. It’s not that you folks lost, but that it just didn’t affect you all that much.
Nevertheless, I would think there would be some books on this available over there, perhaps even a few from the British perspective that we don’t normally see over here. Sounds like you have some searching to do, though.
I was actually searching bookshelves in person, so the name of the war didn’t matter. I was looking for any book that might have anything remotely to do with that particular war.
I had found a few books on amazon (the UK site) but they had 1 to 2 week delivery estimates (meaning amazon would have to import them from somewhere) which is rare for amazon.co.uk
I would say that the American revolutiuon was a significant part of British history as it was the beginning of the end. I don’t know this though. hence my desire to understand the war.
All I can say is trust me, theyre out there. Find a nearby university with a good library, and perhaps a decent reputation in history -> search there. You will probably find scads.
Lobsang: I’d say it was important just by the idea that a colony surpassed it’s colonial masters in power 150 years later. That in and of itself is pretty remarkable, regardless of which colony and which colonial power we are talking about.
Not wanting to start an argument. But from my limited knowledge I understand that it was not a case of America being more powerful, but a case of it being extremely hard to fight a war so far from home.
America has quite obviously surpassed it, and every other empire now but saying that America was more powerful than britain at the time of the Revolution is probably silly.
This is why I want a book. So that I can back up these claims, and possibly reduce the inevitable trouncing after saying such a devilishly evil and highly illegal thing as “America did not surpass the British Empire in power”
Winning a war does not mean you are the more powerful. America did not win the war in vietnam, does that mean vietnam is more powerful than America? HA!
I didn’t say we were more powerful then, but we certainly are more powerful now, than Britain is now. Let’s not even get into Vietnam, I don’t know enough about Vietnam to really argue well, I wish I did though, so I could figure out how such a complete military victory can result in a loss.
You are right in saying that America certainly was NOT more powerful than Britain at the time of the Revolutionary War. Not only was Britain fighting a long way from home, but America had a great deal of help from France. Afterwards, America took a long time forming itself–among other things, we had a Civil War to deal with–and really didn’t emerge as a nation “more powerful” than Britain until after World War I.
Still, that doesn’t change the fact that we won the Revolutionary War! We won! Neener neener neener!
