"The loss of America was a stunning and unexpected defeat for the powerful British Empire. Common wisdom has held that incompetent military commanders and political leaders in Britain must have been to blame, but were they? This intriguing book makes a different argument. Weaving together the personal stories of ten prominent men who directed the British dimension of the war, historian Andrew O'Shaughnessy dispels the incompetence myth and uncovers...

"This book reveals how the lived experience of military occupation shaped the outcome of the Revolutionary War. Using accounts of those who lived under military rule in the six American cities occupied by the British Army, this book demonstrates how, over the course of the eight-year conflict, military occupations slowly frayed and eventually severed the bonds of imperial authority. Although the experience of occupation differed from place to place...

"Finally revealing the family's indefatigable women among its legendary military figures, The Howe Dynasty recasts the British side of the American Revolution. In December 1774, Benjamin Franklin met Caroline Howe, the sister of British Admiral Richard and General William Howe, in a London drawing room for "half a dozen Games of Chess." As Julie Flavell reveals, the games concealed a matter of the utmost diplomatic urgency, a last-ditch attempt to...