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Loading... The War of Jenkins' Ear: The Forgotten Struggle for North and South America: 1739-1742 (2022)by Robert Gaudi
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Initially, I was getting a lot of enjoyment out of Gaudi's almost satirical treatment of one the interminable Hispano-English colonial conflicts, but, after a certain point, the wise-guy tone began to annoy me. This was probably about the time when the phrase "collaborationist squaw" was used. Still, Gaudi does cover a lot of ground and does a good job of placing this war in the context of the global economy of the time, as it was very much a war over trade. There's certainly an interesting set of historical characters to follow, including Lawrence Washington, the brother of George Washington. At this point, I'm now wanting to read Craig Chapman's "Disaster on the Spanish Main," for a more sober treatment of events at the failed British operation to take Cartagena. ( ) Curious episode during the colonization of the Americas in the early 18th century, when England stood a chance of defeating Spain and becoming master of North, Central and South America. Had England succeeded this war would be well known, but they didn't and it's now a footnote few have heard of. Gaudi, a former bartender, has a style that some love or hate, I'm in the former camp. Not as good as his WWI book but not bad. no reviews | add a review
Filled with unforgettable characters and maritime adventure, the incredible story of a forgotten war that shaped the fate of the United States--and the entire Western Hemisphere. In the early 18th century, the British and Spanish Empires were fighting for economic supremacy in the Americas. Tensions between the two powers were high, and wars blossomed like violent flowers for nearly a hundred years, from the War of Spanish Succession (sometimes known as Queen Anne's War in the Americas), culminating in the War of Jenkins' Ear. This war would lay the groundwork for the French and Indian War and, eventually, the War of the American Revolution. The War of Jenkins' Ear was a world war in the truest sense, engaging the major European powers on battlefields ranging from Europe to the Americas to the Asian subcontinent. Yet the conflict that would eventually become known as the War of Jenkins' Ear--a moniker coined by the 19th century historian Thomas Carlyle more than a century later--is barely known to us today. Yet it resulted in the invasion of Georgia and even involved members of George Washington's own family. It would cost fifty-thousand lives, millions in treasure, and over six hundred ships. With vivid prose, Robert Gaudi takes the reader from the brackish waters of the Chesapeake Bay to the rocky shores of Tierra del Fuego. We travel around the Cape of Good Hope and across the Pacific to the Philippines and the Cantonese coast, with stops in Cartagena, Panama, and beyond. Yet even though it happened decades before American independence, The War of Jenkins' Ear reveals that this was truly an American war; a hard-fought, costly struggle that determined the fate of the Americas, and in which, for the first time, American armies participated. In this definitive work of history--the only single comprehensive volume on the subject--The War of Jenkins' Ear explores the war that established the future of two entire continents. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)973.26History and Geography North America United States Colonial period (1607-1775) Extension of English rule (1732-63)LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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