Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War That Won It

Ferling (Jefferson and Hamilton) enhances an impressive list of publications on the American Revolution with a fast-paced survey that echoes Carl Beard and 1930s historiography in its assertion that the revolution%E2%80%99s roots were economic. However, Ferling is not a single-issue determinist, paying ample attention to the argument that American colonists believed revolt %E2%80%9Ccould usher in a better world.%E2%80%9D For the sake of that world, they fought an all-out war, one they almost lost and in which %E2%80%9Cabout one in sixteen free American males of military age died.%E2%80%9D Furling handles the conflict%E2%80%99s ups and downs with a professorial ease, complemented by mastery of a broad spectrum of primary and secondary sources. He smoothly and clearly covers the battles from Bunker Hill to Yorktown, and presents the development of an ideology of revolution that engaged increasing numbers of the %E2%80%9Cpolitically impotent.%E2%80%9D Given the improvised nature of the rebels%E2%80%99 war effort, Ferling suggests that rather than the Americans winning, the British lost through strategic overextension and ineffective command. He also excels at detailing the hammering out of governmental institutions from a kaleidoscope of provincial assemblies, town meetings, and church pulpits. The result was a %E2%80%9Cnew-model experimental polity%E2%80%9D that remains a work in progress. [em](May) [/em]