A Short History of the American Revolutionary War

Jane Kamensky, Harry S. Truman Professor of History, Brandeis University.

Stephen Conway has written an outstanding introduction for both students and laymen. He offers a compelling explanation of why Britain lost America. –Andrew O’ Shaughnessy, Professor of History, University of Virginia

Stephen Conway’s Short History takes a remarkably enlarged view of the American Revolutionary War: from a rebellion in the British colonies of North America to the intervention of European powers, to fighting that spread round the globe, to a post-war settlement in which Britain fared unexpectedly well. Conway has told this sprawling story with authority and clarity. He has shown that while the British were unable to keep thirteen of their American colonies, they did have the fiscal and naval resources to survive the war and fare better than their enemies in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. This Short History is just the place to begin to understand the American Revolutionary War. –Ira D. Gruber, Harris Masterson, Jr. Professor Emeritus of History, Rice University

“Stephen Conway’s Short History takes a remarkably enlarged view of the American Revolutionary War: from a rebellion in the British colonies of North America to the intervention of European powers, to fighting that spread round the globe, to a post-war settlement in which Britain fared unexpectedly well. Conway has told this sprawling story with authority and clarity. He has shown that while the British were unable to keep thirteen of their American colonies, they did have the fiscal and naval resources to survive the war and fare better than their enemies in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. This Short History is just the place to begin to understand the American Revolutionary War.” –Ira D. Gruber, Harris Masterson, Jr. Professor Emeritus of History, Rice University