Barbara Tuchman books are always quite well researched and extremely thorough. At least for me (a major history buff) they cover subjects with which many people are not familiar. This one partially covers the Revolutionary War. Most people with the slightest interest in history have some knowledge of that war. This book approaches the Revolutionary War from the south--not South Carolina or Georgia but the Caribbean. The book starts with a somewhat innocent first salute of Dutch cannons at the island of St. Eustatius .

The reason I don't give it five stars is that it doesn't proceed in chronological order. This makes in somewhat confusing. But the French and Dutch contribution to our independence cannot be overlooked. Barbara Tuchman does it justice. ( )

Interesting though sobering history of the American naval forces during the Revolution. It was particularly sobering to read about how the British soldiers treated American civilians along the Atlantic coast during the conflict - it was basically just like Putin has treated the Ukrainian civilians during his war on Ukraine. ( )

A very important difference between the American Revolution and the Latin American Revolutions is that no European Power came to the assistance of the Latin American Revolutionaries: they faced their colonial masters all by themselves.
The Americans got lucky: Holland, Spain and France came to their aid. This book focuses in that aid but it is also an excellent and concise history of the American Revolution.
Four stars because the author is my favorite historian and I reserve all my five stars for her masterpieces: [b:A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century|568236|A Distant Mirror The Calamitous 14th Century|Barbara W. Tuchman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403200553s/568236.jpg|227267] and [b:The Guns of August|40779082|The Guns of August|Barbara W. Tuchman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1531263026s/40779082.jpg|1884932] ( )

Thirty years later, Tuchman's Whiggish teleology of the actions of great men in furtherance of progress is a bit hard to accept. It's still wonderfully written, and nothing of the facts included is particularly incorrect. But beyond a few lines in the epilogue that address the imperfections of the American legacy, it's largely a recounting of the brave boldness of the Americans and the French, and the sluggish complacency of the British commands.

Tuchman's analysis of the development of Dutch beliefs that led to events at St. Eustatius, and of the efforts of Rodney, are a notable departure from the book as a whole, and some of the traditional elements of American Revolution history are left out in favor of a clearer description of naval actions and geopolitical effects. These are welcome, but still don't quite make up for the lack of nuanced interpretations or social history--details that have been become all but required in the years since Tuchman's book was published. ( )

Boooorrrrrrinnnng ( )