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Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution (The American Revolution Series Book 1) Kindle Edition
In the opening volume of his acclaimed American Revolution series, Nathaniel Philbrick turns his keen eye to pre-Revolutionary Boston and the spark that ignited the American Revolution. In the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party and the violence at Lexington and Concord, the conflict escalated and skirmishes gave way to outright war in the Battle of Bunker Hill. It was the bloodiest conflict of the revolutionary war, and the point of no return for the rebellious colonists. Philbrick gives us a fresh view of the story and its dynamic personalities, including John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, and George Washington. With passion and insight, he reconstructs the revolutionary landscape—geographic and ideological—in a mesmerizing narrative of the robust, messy, blisteringly real origins of America.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin Books
- Publication dateApril 30, 2013
- File size42338 KB
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Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
Review
—Wall Street Journal
“A masterpiece of narrative and perspective…”—Boston Globe
“You will delight in the story and the multitude of details Philbrick offers up.”—USA Today
“Riveting, fast-paced account…”—Los Angeles Times
“Lively…Philbrick, guides us beautifully through Revolutionary Boston…”
—New York Times Book Review
“Philbrick writes with freshness and clarity…”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“This is popular history at its best: a taut narrative with a novelist’s touch, grounded in careful research.”—Miami Herald
“Philbrick … has a flair for using primary sources to create scenes that sweep readers into the thick of history…BUNKER HILL is a tour de force, creating as vivid a picture as we are likely to get of the first engagements of the American Revolution…Philbrick is a gifted researcher and storyteller…”—Chicago Tribune
“Philbrick…offers…surprising revelations and others in BUNKER HILL, a comprehensive and absorbing account of a battle…Extraordinary events produce extraordinary individuals, and Philbrick’s portrayals are remarkably penetrating and vivid…Given the scale of the story, Philbrick, confirming his standing as one of America’s pre-eminent historians, somehow manages to address all the essential components in a concise, readable style”—Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Like a masterly chronicler, [Philbrick] has produced a tightly focused and richly detailed narrative that just happens to resonate with leadership lessons for all times….Philbrick is at his most vivid in conveying scenes of battle, both on the road between Boston and Concord and on the ridges of Bunker Hill. But what adds depth to the narrative is his fine sense of the ambitions that drive people in war and politics.”
—Washington Post
“Another fine history from Nathaniel Philbrick…”—The Economist
“Though you know the ending, you whip through the pages…”—Entertainment Weekly
“Quite masterfully, Philbrick does not sink to simply good and evil distinctions in the run-up to Bunker Hill. The author reminds us that the freedoms colonists wanted were never intended to apply to blacks, American Indians or women. This was a messy time when decisions were sometimes dictated by ambition instead of some nobler trait.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“[Philbrick] captures the drama—martial and emotional—of the months before and after this legendary clash.”—The New Yorker
“Philbrick spices his text with first-person accounts from many participants in the drama, including patriots, loyalists, generals, privates, spies, even the victim of a tar-and-feathering. This is easy-reading history, uncluttered by footnotes and assisted by some excellent maps.”—Seattle Times
“Fascinating….No one can tell you about the history you thought you knew quite like Philbrick…”
—Cape Cod Times
“Philbrick … will be a candidate for another award with this ingenious, bottom-up look at Boston from the time of the December 1773 Tea Party to the iconic June 1775 battle….A rewarding approach to a well-worn subject, rich in anecdotes, opinion, bloodshed and Byzantine political maneuvering.”—Kirkus (Starred Review)
“Exhaustively researched, intelligent, and engaging narrative with a sophisticated approach. Collections … should certainly acquire this….”—Library Journal
“Philbrick tells his tale in traditional fashion—briskly, colorfully, and with immediacy….no one has told this tale better.”—Publishers Weekly
“Crackling accounts of military movements…a superior talent for renewing interest in a famed event, Philbrick will again be in high demand from history buffs.”—Booklist
“Philbrick shows us historic figures, not only as if they had stepped away from their famous portraits, but as if we had read about them in last week’s newspaper…Philbrick has developed a style that connects the power of narrative to decisive moments in American history.” —Nantucket Today
“A compelling, balanced and fresh narrative.” —Christian Science Monitor
“Philbrick’s research is phenomenal …I suggest you pick up this enjoyable read.” —Washington Independent Review of Books
“You’ll never have history told like this in school. If it were, you might find more kids interested in it.” —The State Journal-Register
“A gripping, suspense-driven recounting of the battles of Bunker and Breed’s Hill…I couldn’t put this book down with its seductive, detail-sharpened, heart-stopping narrative made all the more human by the people involved…powerful, eloquent, infinitely compelling, and just plain awesome.” —Providence Journal
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
On a hot, almost windless afternoon in June, a seven-year-old boy stood beside his mother and looked out across the green islands of Boston Harbor. To the northwest, sheets of fire and smoke rose from the base of a distant hill. Even though the fighting was at least ten miles away, the concussion of the great guns burst like bubbles across his tear-streaked face.
At that moment, John Adams, the boy’s father, was more than three hundred miles to the south at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Years later, the elder Adams claimed that the American Revolution had started not with the Boston Massacre, or the Tea Party, or the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord and all the rest, but had been “effected before the war commenced . . . in the minds and hearts of the people.” For his son, however, the “decisive day” (a phrase used by the boy’s mother, Abigail) was June 17, 1775.
Seventy-one years after that day, in the jittery script of an old man, John Quincy Adams described the terrifying afternoon when he and his mother watched the battle from a hill beside their home in Braintree: “I saw with my own eyes those fires, and heard Britannia’s thunders in the Battle of Bunker’s hill and witnessed the tears of my mother and mingled with them my own.” They feared, he recounted, that the British troops might at any moment march out of Boston and “butcher them in cold blood” or take them as hostages and drag them back into the besieged city. But what he remembered most about the battle was the hopeless sense of sorrow that he and his mother felt when they learned that their family physician, Dr. Joseph Warren, had been killed.
Warren had saved John Quincy Adams’s badly fractured forefinger from amputation, and the death of this “beloved physician” was a terrible blow to a boy whose father’s mounting responsibilities required that he spend months away from home. Even after John Quincy Adams had grown into adulthood and become a public figure, he refused to attend all anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Bunker Hill. Joseph Warren, just thirty-four at the time of his death, had been much more than a beloved doctor to a seven-year-old boy. Over the course of the two critical months between the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington Green and the Battle of Bunker Hill, he became the most influential patriot leader in the province of Massachusetts. As a member of the Committee of Safety, he had been the man who ordered Paul Revere to alert the countryside that British soldiers were headed to Concord; as president of the Provincial Congress, he had overseen the creation of an army even as he waged a propaganda campaign to convince both the American and British people that Massachusetts was fighting for its survival in a purely defensive war. While his more famous compatriots John Adams, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams were in Philadelphia at the Second Continental Congress, Warren was orchestrating the on-the-ground reality of a revolution.
Warren had only recently emerged from the shadow of his mentor Samuel Adams when he found himself at the head of the revolutionary movement in Massachusetts, but his presence (and absence) were immediately felt. When George Washington assumed command of the provincial army gathered outside Boston just two and a half weeks after the Battle of Bunker Hill, he was forced to contend with the confusion and despair that followed Warren’s death. Washington’s ability to gain the confidence of a suspicious, stubborn, and parochial assemblage of New England militiamen marked the advent of a very different kind of leadership. Warren had passionately, often impulsively, tried to control the accelerating cataclysm. Washington would need to master the situation deliberately and—above all—firmly. Thus, the Battle of Bunker Hill is the critical turning point in the story of how a rebellion born in the streets of Boston became a countrywide war for independence.
This is also the story of two British generals. The first, Thomas Gage, was saddled with the impossible task of implementing his government’s unnecessarily punitive response to the Boston Tea Party in December 1773. Gage had a scrupulous respect for the law and was therefore ill equipped to subdue a people who were perfectly willing to take that law into their own hands. When fighting broke out at Lexington and Concord, militiamen from across the region descended upon the British stationed at Boston. Armed New Englanders soon cut off the land approaches to Boston. Ironically, the former center of American resistance found itself gripped by an American siege. By the time General William Howe replaced Gage as the British commander in chief, he had determined that New York, not Boston, was where he must resume the fight. It was left to Washington to hasten the departure of Howe and his army. The evacuation of the British in March 1776 signaled the beginning of an eight-year war that produced a new nation. But it also marked the end of an era that had started back in 1630 with the founding of the Puritan settlement called Boston. This is the story of how a revolution changed that 146-year-old community—of what was lost and what was gained when 150 vessels filled with British soldiers and American loyalists sailed from Boston Harbor for the last time.
Over the more than two centuries since the Revolution, Boston has undergone immense physical change. Most of the city’s once-defining hills have been erased from the landscape while the marshes and mudflats that surrounded Boston have been filled in to eliminate almost all traces of the original waterfront. But hints of the vanished town remain. Several meetinghouses and churches from the colonial era are still standing, along with a smattering of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century houses. Looking southeast from the balcony of the Old State House, you can see how the spine of what was once called King Street connects this historic seat of government, originally known as the Town House, to Long Wharf, an equally historic commercial center that still reaches out into the harbor.
For the last three years I have been exploring these places, trying to get a fix on the long-lost topography that is essential to understanding how Boston’s former residents interacted. Boston in the 1770s was a land-connected island with a population of about fifteen thousand, all of whom probably recognized, if not knew, each other. Being myself a resident of an island with a year-round population very close in size to provincial Boston’s, I have some familiarity with how petty feuds, family alliances, professional jealousies, and bonds of friendship can transform a local controversy into a supercharged outpouring of communal angst. The issues are real enough, but why we find ourselves on one side or the other of those issues is often unclear even to us. Things just happen in a way that has little to do with logic or rationality and everything to do with the mysterious and infinitely complex ways that human beings respond to one another.
In the beginning there were three different colonial groups in Massachusetts. One group was aligned with those who eventually became revolutionaries. For lack of a better word, I will call these people “patriots.” Another group remained faithful to the crown, and they appear herein as “loyalists.” Those in the third and perhaps largest group were not sure where they stood. Part of what makes a revolution such a fascinating subject to study is the arrival of the moment when neutrality is no longer an option. Like it or not, a person has to choose.
It was not a simple case of picking right from wrong. Hindsight has shown that, contrary to what the patriots insisted, Britain had not launched a preconceived effort to enslave her colonies. Compared with other outposts of empire, the American colonists were exceedingly well off. It’s been estimated that they were some of the most prosperous, least-taxed people in the Western world. And yet there was more to the patriots’ overheated claims about oppression than the eighteenth-century equivalent of a conspiracy theory. The hyperbole and hysteria that so mystified the loyalists had wellsprings that were both ancient and strikingly immediate. For patriots and loyalists alike, this was personal.
Because a revolution gave birth to our nation, Americans have a tendency to exalt the concept of a popular uprising. We want the whole world to be caught in a blaze of liberating upheaval (with appropriately democratic results) because that was what worked so well for us. If Gene Sharp’s From Dictatorship to Democracy, the guidebook that has become a kind of bible among twenty-first- century revolutionaries in the Middle East and beyond, is any indication, the mechanics of overthrowing a regime are essentially the same today as they were in the eighteenth century. And yet, given our tendency to focus on the Founding Fathers who were at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia when all of this was unfolding in and around Boston, most of us know surprisingly little about how the patriots of Massachusetts pulled it off.
In the pages that follow, I hope to provide an intimate account of how over the course of just eighteen months a revolution transformed a city and the towns that surrounded it, and how that transformation influenced what eventually became the Unites States of America. This is the story of two charismatic and forceful leaders (one from Massachusetts, the other from Virginia), but it is also the story of two ministers (one a subtle, even Machiavellian, patriot, the other a punster and a loyalist); of a poet, patriot, and caregiver to four orphaned children; of a wealthy merchant who wanted to be everybody’s friend; of a conniving traitor whose girlfriend betrayed him; of a sea captain from Marblehead who became America’s first naval hero; of a bookseller with a permanently mangled hand who after a 300-mile trek through the wilderness helped to force the evacuation of the British; and of many others. In the end, the city of Boston is the true hero of this story. Whether its inhabitants came to view the Revolution as an opportunity or as a catastrophe, they all found themselves in the midst of a survival tale when on December 16, 1773, three shiploads of tea were dumped in Boston Harbor.
Product details
- ASIN : B00AFPVNWY
- Publisher : Penguin Books; 1st edition (April 30, 2013)
- Publication date : April 30, 2013
- Language : English
- File size : 42338 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 418 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #79,737 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Nathaniel Philbrick
Life at a Glance
Born
1956 in Boston, Mass.
Educated
Linden Elementary School and Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, Pa.; BA in English from Brown University in Providence, RI, and an MA in America Literature from Duke University in Durham, NC
Sailing
Philbrick was Brown's first Intercollegiate All-American sailor in 1978; that year he won the Sunfish North Americans in Barrington, RI; today he and his wife Melissa sail their Beetle Cat Clio and their Tiffany Jane 34 Marie-J in the waters surrounding Nantucket Island.
Married
Melissa Douthart Philbrick, who is an attorney on Nantucket. They have two children: Jennie, 23, and Ethan 20.
Career
After grad school, Philbrick worked for four years at Sailing World magazine; was a freelancer for a number of years, during which time he wrote/edited several sailing books, including Yaahting: A Parody (1984), for which he was the editor-in-chief; during this time he was also the primary caregiver for his two children. After moving to Nantucket in 1986, he became interested in the history of the island and wrote Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and Its People. He was offered the opportunity to start the Egan Maritime Foundation in 1995, and in 2000 he published In the Heart of the Sea, followed by Sea of Glory, in 2003, and Mayflower, due in May 2006.
Awards and Honors
In the Heart of the Sea won the National Book Award for nonfiction; Revenge of the Whale won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award; Sea of Glory won the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize and the Albion-Monroe Award from the National Maritime Historical Society. Philbrick has also received the Byrne Waterman Award from the Kendall Whaling Museum, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for distinguished service from the USS Constitution Museum, the Nathaniel Bowditch Award from the American Merchant Marine Museum, and the William Bradford Award from the Pilgrim Society.
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Customers find the book exciting and well-told. They appreciate the thorough research and detailed information. The writing style is straightforward and easy to understand. Readers enjoy the vivid portrayal of characters and their personalities. The book provides a good depiction of a time and place, providing an accessible and enlightening portrait of Washington's background.
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Customers find the book an exciting and well-told history. They praise the author's skill in bringing the story to life through first-person accounts. The book is described as a must-read for history buffs, with a thorough exploration of the early rebellion against Royal authority. Readers also mention that the book is eye-opening and an accurate account of the Battle for Boston.
"...Nathaniel Philbrick, a great historian who has told us the story of the Mayflower voyage in 1620 and several stories of the wild sea, now turns his..." Read more
"Bunker Hill is a colorful and exacting history of the Battle for Boston and the events leading to it...." Read more
"...The book does a nice job of describing the siege, Washington's battle within himself, the dramatic capture of Dorchester Heights, and the subsequent..." Read more
"This book was outstanding the historical references accurate the vivid accounts of battles. Pinterest this author is a magician...." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's readability. They find it well-written and engaging, with masterful research and deep understanding of the subject matter. The author is described as a fine historian and writer, and they learn and enjoy themselves while reading or listening to the book.
"...The navy was by far the most impressive and powerful in the world and enabled the British to prevent the colonials from shuttling men and arms from..." Read more
"...The author does a good job in the first half of the book, however, in adding fresh insights to his summary of the events preceding the conflict...." Read more
"...Philbrick did an amazing job of blending the lives of bystanders to the events into the overall premise of the stories being told, keeping the reader..." Read more
"...For anyone with an interest in the American Revolution, this book is a must read...." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's well-researched and detailed information about the events of 1775. They find it a good read that explains the significance and impact of various British acts. The author understands the crosscurrents of ideas and conflicts between loyalties, providing a feel for the time and context for the events.
"...along into an exciting story of emerging patriotism, bravery and determination, all of which would ultimately defeat the British...." Read more
"...A wonderful resource for understanding the events and players leading up to the battle at Bunker Hill and what followed from that sanguinary event." Read more
"...by sea tale of lanterns in the north church, but this book filled in a lot of detail. Very readable and thorough...." Read more
"...descriptions of life in British Boston show a great understanding of the cross-currents of ideas and conflicts loyalties that were thrashing around..." Read more
Customers find the writing style straightforward and easy to understand. They appreciate the thorough documentation and detailed explanations. The book is well-written and engaging, making it easy for readers to turn the pages.
"...The book does a nice job of describing the siege, Washington's battle within himself, the dramatic capture of Dorchester Heights, and the subsequent..." Read more
"...Very readable and thorough...." Read more
"...-proclaimed history nut, I think the author did a wonderful job of describing the social turmoil of the New England colonies running up to the..." Read more
"...Very well written. I recommend this book to any history fan." Read more
Customers find the book provides fascinating insights into the personalities and attitudes of key figures during the American Revolution. The characters are vividly brought to life, and the author weaves the story of the individual actors and the social forces that ignited the revolution. They appreciate the descriptions of famous figures and their foibles. The book is full of personal details from both the American and British sides, as well as interesting background information on key players and the average farmer.
"...the reader along into an exciting story of emerging patriotism, bravery and determination, all of which would ultimately defeat the British...." Read more
"...him, and boundless confidence in him as a great, experienced and fortunate hero and patriot."..." Read more
"...The maps are superb and numerous. There are illustrations of most of the main characters...." Read more
"...that I have read in other books, BUT, there have been many, many details that I have not seen in other books...." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's pictures. They find it provides an accurate depiction of a time not too long ago, providing an enlightening portrait of Washington's background and Boston in 1775. The photographs help identify people that readers have read about in history books.
"...Philbrick's strength is in his presentation of a driving, detailed narrative...." Read more
"...the siege, Washington's battle within himself, the dramatic capture of Dorchester Heights, and the subsequent withdrawal of British forces from..." Read more
"...This book is a pretty comprehensive look at this portion of the Revolutionary War. I highly recommend it." Read more
"...slow, but the need to build characters and setting allows for an exciting finish. I could not out the book down once the battle begins!!" Read more
Customers appreciate the book's pacing. They find it informative and well-paced, moving smoothly through events without getting sidetracked. The author establishes characters, geography, timeline, history, and events gradually. While readers know the outcome, the reading remains fresh and new to them. The pages read like a sweeping novel, keeping readers engaged from beginning to end.
"...First, it should be noted that this is very well written history. It moves well, leading the reader along into an exciting story of emerging..." Read more
"...The book never bogs down into excessive detail, but moves at an almost economical pace. Note the mere 295 pages of narrative...." Read more
"Starts a bit slow, but hang in there. Marvelous writing about the Massachusetts militia men. It wasn't all militia from Lexington and Concord...." Read more
"...This is a captivating story that moves quickly as developments between the English Parliament, the King, the British army and the developing..." Read more
Customers appreciate the maps and detailed references in the book. They enjoy reading about local locations and getting a better understanding of them. The maps and portraits complement the text well, helping place events and characters in context. The presentation of Washington is helpful for readers.
"...The maps are superb and numerous. There are illustrations of most of the main characters...." Read more
"...Also helpful are the sections of maps and drawings to give the reader a true sense what was where...." Read more
"...The illustrations and maps are excellent (although necessarily reduced on the Kindle)...." Read more
"...And the maps and illustrations a woefully inadequate, especially if you are reading on any electronic platform...." Read more
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- Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2013I know you think you know about Bunker Hill. After all, there is a monument to the battle overlooking Boston harbor; the name itself seems to suggest something about the beginning of the American Revolution; the main actors in this great drama are a bit fuzzy but we knew they were ardent patriots; we knew that the British inflicted grave damage to the ragtag Colonial army. All of that is true but there is so much more to what is really the opening chapter to the Revolution. Nathaniel Philbrick, a great historian who has told us the story of the Mayflower voyage in 1620 and several stories of the wild sea, now turns his lens on that modest hill just outside Boston.
First, it should be noted that this is very well written history. It moves well, leading the reader along into an exciting story of emerging patriotism, bravery and determination, all of which would ultimately defeat the British. The problems in dealing with the colonies steadily mounted during the early-1770's and were capped by the bloody battles of Lexington and Concord when the colonials battled the British troops to a draw. But now, in June 1775, the colonials found themselves facing more than 1600 British soldiers determined to break out of their surrounded base in Boston and expand their perimeter to the north and west, first by taking possession of the large hill - Bunker Hill -- just northwest of Boston harbor.
The British possessed huge advantages. The army was drawn from some of the finest men in England, supplemented by skilled mercenaries from Germany. The navy was by far the most impressive and powerful in the world and enabled the British to prevent the colonials from shuttling men and arms from one arena to another along the Eastern seaboard. The industrial might of England reached levels no country in the world had ever attained.
In spite of this, the Americans had a degree of determination to govern themselves, habits ingrained in them by the the British themselves in their Glorious Revolution that swept an unpopular king from his throne almost one hundred years before the start of the American Revolution. Also, the Americans had the good luck to have several remarkable men emerge, almost magically, to play pivotal roles in the revolt: Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Hancock, and others. Perhaps none was as important in the early days leading up to Bunker Hill as a relatively unknown physician, Joseph Warren. It was Warren who organized the defense north of Boston, led the American colonists in resisting the British advances up the hill, and engaged in continual correspondence with the nascent colonial government sitting in Philadelphia. Warren was tragically killed during the end stages of the battle; it is Philbrick's opinion that had he lived he, not Washington, would have led the colonial army.
Bunker Hill was the beginning of the war for independence. As we know, it took another six years and eventually swept British and American forces north towards the Canadian border and then south, ending in Yorktown, where the British forces surrendered and the Revolution was over. But it was at Bunker Hill where the Americans proved that they could fight even a power as great as England.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2013Bunker Hill is a colorful and exacting history of the Battle for Boston and the events leading to it. Philbrick's strength is in his presentation of a driving, detailed narrative. It focuses on the questions of who, what and when albeit with a bit less emphasis on why.
The Battle of Bunker Hill makes little sense without an understanding of how Boston came to be a city under siege in 1776. The author does a good job in the first half of the book, however, in adding fresh insights to his summary of the events preceding the conflict. In doing so, he gives full credit to the role of Joseph Warren, who perished at Bunker Hill, avoiding the usual historical emphasis on Adams and Hancock. In the weeks ahead of Lexington and Concord, Warren "not only continued his leadership role in the Congress and the Committee of Safety: he would be present in the ranks at virtually every encounter between colonial and British forces." In the two critical months prior to the battles at Lexington Green and Bunker Hill, Warren "became the most influential leader in the province of Massachusetts."
Philbrick is at his best in rendering these encounters in a journalistic style that succeeds in bringing to life scenes that sometimes can seem colorless through the process of so many retellings. Witness his description of the first British volley at Concord Bridge: "Action private Abner Hosmer was shot through the face and killed instantly. Captain Isaac Davis, marching in the front row beside Major Buttrick and Lieutenant Colonel Robinson, was hit in the chest, and the musket ball, which may have driven a shirt button through an artery and out his back, opened up a gush of blood that extended at least ten feet behind him drenching David Forbush and Thomas Thorp and covering the stones in front of the North Bridge with a slick of gore." Bunker Hill shows real people acting with overwhelming sacrifice.
On the other hand, the author does not work as hard to analyze the deep-seated, and sometimes conflicting, motivations behind the colonial rebellion. He mentions ambition as a possible source of Joseph Warren's patriotism and the commercial interests that effected Hancock. He also suggests that "a love of democratic ideals" is not the "reality of the revolutionary movement" at least for the "country people" who made up the militias. Philbrick submits that "the Revolution, if it was to succeed, would do so not because the patriots had right on their side but because they - rather than Gage and the loyalists - had the power to intimidate those around them into doing what they wanted" by pronouncing resistors as Enemies of Liberty.
Bunker Hill, unlike many books about the early days of the revolution, credits surrounding towns as the true hotbed of resistance. Even before Lexington and Concord, says Philbrick, "the country people outside the city were the ones now leading the resistance movement." And while Joseph Ellis points out in Revolutionary Summer the advantage accruing to British troops due to their 7 years average service in the field, Philbrick notes that the army had not fought in 12 years and that many British troops in New England had never fought before. He contrasts this to colonial troops, two inches taller than their English counterparts on average, who used their guns as part of their daily lives on the frontier.
Publication of this book is well-timed given recent events because, as Philbrick states in his Preface, "the city of Boston is the true hero of this story." Bunker Hill tells the powerful story a revolution in thought and action that transformed the Massachusetts colony in 18 months. It also suggests how that transformation influenced what would become the United States.
Top reviews from other countries
- Garnet SchofieldReviewed in Canada on January 6, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
An excellent eBay experience! Great price, super fast delivery!
- Mike MellorReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 22, 2013
5.0 out of 5 stars Why Americans went to war with Britain.
Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of the American War of Independence, or has a vague idea of the Tea Party in Boston will enjoy this eminently readable account of the events leading up to the war, whilst giving life to the main players in the drama. Who has heard of King Philip's war ? Was the Tea Party an act of trade protection ? Fascinating, giving new insights to those momentous days. A compelling read, quite unlike traditional heavy history books.
- J. McDonald 🏴Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2015
4.0 out of 5 stars Bunker Hill.
Nathaniel Philbrick`s book covers the opening years of the War of Independence, concentrating on the Battle of Bunker Hill and ending with the siege and evacuation of Boston in 1776.
This is a generally decent account of the social, political and - ultimately - military situations faced by both sides in the ensuing conflict. A little American bias creeps in - understandable, perhaps, as it is widely believed by most Americans that the right guys won(!) but this doesn't detract anything from the content of the book for the UK reader. Philbrick also puts Dr. Joseph Warren at centre-stage for large parts of his study, referencing him both in his opening pages and in his epilogue; Warren died at Bunker Hill – an early revolutionary martyr – history may well have played out very differently had he survived.
There are copious reference notes for each chapter at the back of the book which indicate that the author has certainly done a great deal of research for this and he provides good background and contextual detail for the events he covers. He presents his narrative in a fairly open and non-judgemental style, though at times the conclusions and interpretations he perhaps intends the viewer to arrive at were not necessarily the ones I did.
I'll come clean at this stage and admit that having read a number of books on this subject, I have grown tired of earlier American historians regurgitating the old myths that muddied the waters and inevitably made one side saints and the other the very devils; Philbrick is, thank goodness, a more revisionist writer than that and he is, for the most part, pretty fair.
All the same, I would have liked an answer to a question that has long troubled me; when the British mounted the raid on Concord in order to seize military supplies hidden there, it was known that a number of cannon had been spirited away from Boston to that location - Philbrick lists them on p.88 as” 4 brass field pieces, 2 mortars”. There were in fact 3, 24-pounder guns among them; these were not field guns but siege guns, heavy weapons requiring much man-power and large horse-teams to move and operate them and with only one purpose. Information of this may well explain the apparent haste with which the British expedition was put together. Why and how did these guns come to be in Boston? Who supplied/paid for them and when? As Philbrick is fond of saying at various points in the book, we'll never know... He is not alone in skipping over this though, I`ve yet to read a proper analysis of this in any account of the battles of Lexington/Concord.
I also feel that his telling of the evacuation of Boston isn't quite accurate; the British had known for a long time that they would have to abandon the city and make the taking of New York City their main strategic goal; although the Patriots forced their hand, the evacuation wasn't a completely panic-stricken event, but was a more orderly withdrawal, albeit with some compromise and hampered by a severe and damaging storm. A better and more balanced account, in my opinion, is offered by David McCullough in his Book 1776: America and Britain at War.
This is, however, an enjoyable and thoroughly detailed read, well worth your time and useful as a study of this early period in the revolution.
One person found this helpfulReport - gerardpeterReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 21, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars When everything was possible
Philbrick focuses on the first year of the Revolution and on Boston. It is a fine dramatic read, filled with characters to match. He shows how events moved from restoration [of fair relations with Britain] to revolution.
The animus against London initially sought a return to the autonomy enjoyed before the Treaty of Paris had inspired imperial ambition in the British. Boston was, relative to today’s metropolis, tiny. People on opposing sides knew each other personally, even as they traded words and later cannon balls . Members of the militia levelled muskets at men they had fought alongside in the 1750s, rebel generals and British had shared commands in the French and Indian wars. At least to begin with they had more in common than set them apart. Killing changed all that. Today we consider the weaponry crude and ineffective. In one sense it was, but it mandated close combat, personal butchery, hate and fear. The author brings life and death to the page.
The arrival of Washington was a crucial development. In his person he united New England with the Southern regions and he created from a provincial force a Continental Army. He secured the first key strategic victory, when Howe was compelled to abandon the port. Not just Massachusetts now, the colonies embarked on an armed unity, professional enough to cast the British army out of Boston. By March 1776 a struggle for Independence was as inevitable as its ultimate success, a fact appreciated by the leaders of British forces, if not the ministry back home.
Philbrick does not diminish what this meant, even as few were as prescient as Thomas Paine: “the birthday of a new world is at hand”. However, the author also stresses that those fighting for Liberty did not intend everyone to benefit equally and some were to have no share at all in the bounty.
Historians generally stress that independence sooner or later was inevitable, and that events from 1763 onwards pushed uniformly in that direction. Philbrick suggests that as late as 1775 the die was definitely not cast. July 1776 was determined by a confusion and conflict of a multitude of actors, none of whom had any direction of the process. Not until the arrival of George Washington.
- L. RuizReviewed in Canada on November 1, 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars As with all of his works:
As with all of his works: well researched and very readable