Whirlwind

The American Revolution and the War That Won It

John Ferling

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Press
• Year: 2015
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781620401736
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

Amid a great collection of scholarship and narrative history on the Revolutionary War and the American struggle for independence, there is a gaping hole; one that John Ferling's latest book, Whirlwind, will fill. Books chronicling the Revolution have largely ranged from multivolume tomes that appeal to scholars and the most serious general readers to microhistories that necessarily gloss over swaths of Independence-era history with only cursory treatment.
Written in Ferling's engaging and narrative-driven style that made books like Independence and The Ascent of George Washington critical and commercial successes, Whirlwind is a fast-paced and scrupulously told one-volume history of this epochal time. Balancing social and political concerns of the period and perspectives of the average American revolutionary with a careful examination of the war itself, Ferling has crafted the ideal book for armchair military history buffs, a book about the causes of the American Revolution, the war that won it, and the meaning of the Revolution overall. Combining careful scholarship, arresting detail, and illustrative storytelling, Whirlwind is a unique and compelling addition to any collection of books on the American Revolution.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Contents
• Maps
• Preface
• Introduction “I See Nothing Before Us But Accumulating Distress”
• Chapter 1 “I Am a Briton”: On the Brink
• Chapter 2 “Loyal But Jealous of Their Liberties”: Changes in Imperial Policy and the Colonists’ Thinking, 1759–1766
• Chapter 3 “A Plan For Governing and Quieting Them”: The Second Great Crisis, 1767–1770
• Chapter 4 “I Am Unwilling to Give Up That Duty to America”: To the Tea Party, 1770–1773
• Chapter 5 “Behold Americans Where Matters Are Driving”: 1774, Year of Momentous Decisions
• Chapter 6 “Blows Must Decide Whether They Are to Be Subject to This Country”: The War Begins
• Chapter 7 “Great Britain Is Equal to the Contest”: War Brings Crucial Changes in 1775
• Chapter 8 “The Birthday of a New World”: America Declares Independence
• Chapter 9 “The American Cause Is in a Critical Situation”: The New York Campaign in 1776
• Chapter 10 “Across America in a Hop, Step, and a Jump”: The Campaigns of 1777
• Chapter 11 “The Central Stone in the Geometrical Arch”: The War Is Transformed in 1778
• Chapter 12 “The Longest Purse Will Win the War”: Reform at Home While the War Takes a New Turn
• Chapter 13 “Whom Can We Trust Now?”: A Year of Disasters, 1780
• Chapter 14 “A War of Desolation Shocking to Humanity”: The Southern Theater in 1780–1781
• Chapter 15 “We Have Got Cornwallis in a Pudding Bag”: The Decisive Victory at Yorktown
• Chapter 16 “Oh God, It Is All Over”: Peace, Conspiracy, Demobilization, Change, 1781–1783
• Select Bibliography
• Notes
• Index
• By the Same Author
• A Note On the Author
• Plate Section
• Also by John Ferling
• Copyright