The War for American Independence

Including both attention to strategic policies in Britain and France and personal accounts of colonial soldiers, The War for American Independence provides an unprecedented view of America's struggle for independence in its world context. With wit, clarity, and dramatic effect, Samuel B. Griffith II vivifies the characters and incidents of the period on both sides of the Atlantic, drawing from personal diaries and letters, newspaper accounts, and detailed battle maps to create a unique alternative to standard histories of the period. This enduring and exceptionally readable resource, first published in 1976 under the title In Defense of the Public Liberty: Britain, America, and the Struggle for Independence from 1760 to the Surrender at Yorktown in 1781, was honored with the Sons of Liberty Award for the best book on the American Revolution.''A book on the American Revolution so fresh and continually surprising is a miracle at this time. It is sharp, fast, and beautifully written. . . . General Griffith has made it, for once, a two-sided war.''--Barbara Tuchman ''It is the insights which the author derives from his own military experience and his willingness to share these so frankly with the reader that gives the book its distinctive character. . . . It is, in the best sense, a soldier's view of the war.''--Economist ''An exhaustive and well-written political and military account of our War for Independence from primary sources.''--National Review