As the author claims, "this is the first book to adopt violence as a central analytical and narrative focus". Unfortunately, that is not the history of the American revolution that I want to read. Had I known that this was the focus I would not have requested this book. It strikes me that the author is someone who is desperate to find a fresh take on a subject that has been written about a lot. Maybe he just needs to publish in order to buff up his academic credentials. That's fine, but I'm really not interested in reading about the beatings and shootings and weapons of choice employed by the British or the Americans. I abandoned this book pretty quickly. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Kindle location 250:) “Although the American Revolution has been continuously invoked since the eighteenth century in the name of all manner of causes … its inherent violence has often been minimized. The result has been the perpetuation of an overly sentimental narrative of America's originary war.”

(Kindle location 260:) “To understand the Revolution and the war … we must write the violence, in all its forms, back into the story. This is my aim in this book.”

It would be a shame if this book is pigeonholed as an academic engaging in fashionable America-bashing, because it is really an invitation to look at the Revolutionary War like an adult, with all the headaches and rewards that involves. The founding fathers (especially George Washington, but also Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and others) in general come off rather well in this book. The acts of cruelty by all sides (frequently, but not always, by paramilitaries) are backstopped with evidence and given as much context as possible while still retaining enough coherent narrative drive to engage those who read history for pleasure. It was also interesting to see, in this day and age, how much political capital the leaders of the new-born USA were able to get out of presenting themselves as (and often being) on the morally correct side of the equation.

(Kindle location 5382:) “Concerned about preserving the Revolution's ideals and maintaining America's international reputation as an honorable, treaty-abiding nation, an increasingly vocal group of individuals, George Washington prominently among them, began pushing for reconciliation. After winning the moral war, they believed, America also had to win the peace by conducting itself in accordance with international law and enlightened ethical standards ...”

I received an free advance reader's copy of the ebook for review. Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for their generosity.

Spurred on by my Hamilton fervor, I've been seeking out books about the Revolutionary period. I was intrigued by this book about the violence of the time based on the frequency of duels during the musical and thinking about the state of laws and honor and policing during that time. This book was an enlightening look at both the violence of the Revolution as well as the violence and self-policing that occurs during war and also during times without strong legal and governmental oversight. The Patriots at times look like nothing so much as a vigilante mob. The use of corporeal punishment and shaming to keep fellow citizens in line was also widespread. Tarring and feathering; and drawing and quartering, which are just vague phrases for a modern American were very much a living threat to revolutionaries. Heavy in violence and research, recommended primarily for readers of historical non-fiction for a look at an often unexplored aspect of American history.