Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War That Won It, by John Ferling
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Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War That Won It, by John Ferling
Free Ebook Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War That Won It, by John Ferling
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.
Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War That Won It, by John Ferling - Amazon Sales Rank: #139554 in Books
- Brand: Ferling, John
- Published on: 2015-05-05
- Released on: 2015-05-05
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.48" h x 1.27" w x 6.40" l, 1.63 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 432 pages
Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War That Won It, by John Ferling Review
About the Author John Ferling is professor emeritus of history at the University of West Georgia. He is the author of many books on American Revolutionary history, including The Ascent of George Washington; Almost a Miracle, an acclaimed military history of the War of Independence; and the award-winning A Leap in the Dark. His most recent book on American history is Jefferson and Hamilton: The Rivalry That Forged a Nation. He and his wife, Carol, live near Atlanta, Georgia.
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57 of 58 people found the following review helpful. Outstanding Single Volume History of the Revolutionary War By H. P. By Ferling’s own words, Whirlwind differs from other histories of the American Revolution in emphasizing the causal role of economic factors (along with rage against Britain and a desire for a freer world), its position that Americans were happy with the imperial relationship until the 1760s, it focus on the war rather than the political rebellion, the attention it pays to what was happening in England, and by beginning in the 1760s and ending with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Ferling is also very critical of British handling of the colonies and their prosecution of the war, and he is relatively critical of Washington, especially as a military leader.The focus on what was happening in England is particularly notable. Unfortunately, much of that attention tails off after war breaks out and from then on we mostly just hear about the generals on American soil. Ferling needs the space, though, because he also hits on the experiences of black Americans, women, the lower class, and Loyalists well, if only briefly.For example, the British threatened the southern states by offering freedom to slaves who fled their masters and threw in with the British. Washington, southern planter that he was, was initially very reluctant to tap America’s black population for military support but quickly changed his opinion. Eventually around 5,000 blacks enlisted in the Continental army, accounting for roughly 5% of Continentals. Moreover, “they served in integrated units, something that would not occur again in the United States Army until the Korean conflict 175 years later.” And while independence did not lead to the end of slavery as many Founding Fathers erroneously believed it would, the free black population in Virginia jumped from 1% in pre-Revolution Virginia to 7% in 1810, with “[t]he percentage of free blacks within the United States doubl[ing] within the same period, jumping to nearly 14 percent of the total number of African Americans.” Female camp followers, many of them wives of soldiers, “averaged about 3 percent of the number of soldiers,” and many followed the men into battle despite Washington’s best efforts.Ferling is an advocate for poor Americans. He can’t see them as mere cats’ paws in the Boston riots. They may not have read Locke, but Ferling thinks they appreciate the basics of the arguments. (I tend to agree.) And Ferling points out, for example, that the soldiery evolved over the course of the war from “something of a cross-section of freemen in America” to “young, poor, single men who owned no property.” Loyalists don’t get a high level of attention but neither are they ignored. How could they be? Roughly 19,000 Loyalists bore arms for the British. 4,000 died. Another 60,000 fled in exile. Innumerable Loyalists lost their lands and their livelihoods.Granted Ferling’s focus is not on the political rebellion, but I wish he had more to say about an ineffective initial government that couldn’t properly support the prosecution of the war (he does touch on Congress’ failings regarding the quartermaster service). The committees of correspondence and the Association committees, which I knew little about, are covered. Both were important. They built a new political infrastructure and were highly effective at organizing the boycott of British goods—“the value of British imports during 1775 was just 5 percent of that of the previous year.” And the formation of the Continental Congress was followed by a surge of new, more radical men into local American politicsFerling continues to a good job at one of my favorite things about his biography of John Adams—flagging where there is significant disagreement among historians. He also makes frequent mention of possible turning points in the war without getting bogged down in counterfactuals. Absent my quibble above, I have little-to-no complaint with how Ferling allocated the pages of a single volume covering a long war.And what a war it was, one of the bloodiest in American history. Something like 200,000 American men served in some capacity, which works out to roughly…all of them, free and of military age (positively Towton-esque). 30,000 died, “a percentage roughly equal to the toll of regulars in the Civil War and nearly ten times greater than among those who soldiered for the United States in World War II.” Some 10,000 of the men fighting for independence (counting militiamen and privateers as well as Continentals) died in confinement. And it wasn’t just those fighting for American independence who died. A quarter of the British and German soldiers did (roughly 17,500 men).It was a big war. The expeditionary force the British put together to seize New York wouldn’t be matched until WWI. It was also a world war. We Americans tend to see the war entirely through the lens of our own revolution. But there was also fighting in the Caribbean, Africa, and India. A lot of Americas know, for instance, that the French provided material support (they provided nearly of our artillery and about 90% of the weapons and ammunition). But they also drew British soldiers away to the Caribbean, etc. This is by no means a history of that world war, but it provides a context that is welcome.The names that every school kid in America hears show up: Paul Revere, Trenton, Valley Forge, Saratoga, Benedict Arnold, Cornwallis, but Ferling also covers plenty of other important battles and persons. I would love to read a book just on the war in the southern states, but Ferling gives what I think is a too often neglected theater of the war the attention it is due. But first we see a catastrophic week and a half for the British from December 25, 1776 to January 3, 1777, during which the British lost 1,730 soldiers to America’s 155. We see Washington lose one in five of the men who entered Valley Forge that ugly winter (almost 7% of the American soldiers who died in all of the eight-year war). We see Washington fiddle while America burns (ok, it wasn’t that bad, but Ferling is harshly critical of Washington’s inactivity for the middle of the war). Ferling includes my very favorite story from the Revolutionary War, starting with a bombastic proclamation from the British and ending with their humiliation by my hillbilly forebears at the Battle of Kings Mountain (casualties included the geographical apostrophe). We see that battle and four more (with mention of innumerable skirmishes), engagements that were, win or lose, too costly for the British to continue, leading up to Corwallis’ surrender at Yorktown.Let’s talk about individuals. Washington, of course, looms large. John Adams finds frequent mention, unsurprising given that Ferling wrote a biography of the man. Benjamin Franklin is another frequent flier. Ferling juxtaposes Franklin’s many reasons to be partial to the British against his public humiliation by the government. Alexander Hamilton appears briefly but in usual overachieving fashion. He was writing tracts by the time he was nineteen, arguing that Britain could not win a war against the colonists because France would give aid and the colonists could “harass and exhaust” the British through Fabian, insurgent tactics. The less well known Pennsylvanian Joseph Galloway is the most prominent Loyalist (who notably argued that the colonies needed a stronger, more centralized government in America).Disclosure: I received a complimentary advance copy of Whirlwind via NetGalley.
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful. How and why the American Revolution "was caused and driven by economic factors and colonists' desire to control their destiny" By Robert Morris I was and remain intrigued by John Ferling's unique approach to the American Revolution, one that he explains in the Preface: "The book differs from most other histories of the American Revolution in several ways. It emphasizes that the colonial insurgency was caused, and driven, by economic factors and by the desire of the colonists to exercise greater control, over their destiny, which in itself often had an economic basis. I don't suggest that ideas about freedom and liberty sere unimportant; ideas provided a prism for how the colonists saw themselves and the actions of leaders in the mother country. Nor was ambition insignificant. The desire to improve one's lot -- whether economically or by gaining power and renown -- shaped the conduct of a great many actors in the Revolution. Men such as Adams and George Washington spoke frankly of the yearning for honor and reputation."Ferling does indeed focus not just on the colonies but on the mother country as well, examining the choices faced by the imperial leaders and the reasons for their decisions. There were foes of the British policy toward the colonists at every step and, when the Declaration of Independence was signed, a majority of the colonists were royalists. "This book evaluates those who held high civil and military positions, lesser-known individuals who joined the protests and managed affairs at the local level, and above all, those who bore arms as Continental soldiers and sailors or militiamen."These are among the dozens of passages of greatest interest and value to me, also listed to suggest the scope of Ferling's coverage:o British controls over the colonies (Pages 12-15, 20-23, and 80-83)o Stamp Act (21-32)o Debates on Stamp Act (32-35)o British reprisals against Massachusetts (55-56 and 81-84)o Sam Adams urging popular resistance (67-72 and 79-80)o Intolerable (Coercive) Acts (81-87)o First Continental Congress (90-98)o Preparations for American Revolution (110-116)o Second Continental Congress (117-125)o Battle of Bunker Hill (128-131)o Parliamentary debates on retribution for colonial victories (132-136)o Benedict Arnold (144-146, 190-191, and 272-274)o Second Continental Congress and Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence (157-165)o George Washington and Charles Lee: Focus on New York campaign (166-179)o Campaigns of Continental and British armies (184-202)o Horatio Gates (191-195)o George Washington as military commander (213-217)o John Adams and changing attitudes (223-227)o Changes as a result of the War for Independence (223-233 and 329-335)o Military action in the Southern Theater, 1780-178 (245-266 and 279-283)o Sir Henry Clinton in South Carolina (255-261)o Charles Cornwallis in North Carolina (289-292)o Continuation of American Revolution (329-335)With regard to the book's title, Ferling took it from a line in a letter that John Adams wrote to his wife during the final, tempestuous weeks leading to the Declaration of Independence. Adams suggested that judgment and courage would be required "to ride in this Whirlwind." I agree with Ferling: "The great promise of America was that it really had begun the world anew." The Revolutionary War may have been over but not the American Revolution.Presumably this is what Joseph Ellis has in mind when suggesting, in The Quartet, that four founders were essential to winning what he characterizes as "the second American Revolution." As he explains, "a political quartet [Washington, Hamilton, Jay, and Madison] diagnosed the systemic dysfunctions under the Articles, manipulated the political process to force a calling of the Constitutional Congress, collaborated to set their agenda in Philadelphia, attempted somewhat successfully to orchestrate the debates in the state ratifying convention s, then drafted the Bill of Rights as an insurance policy to ensure state compliance with the constitutional settlement. If I am right, this was arguably the most creative and consequential act of political leadership in American history."I am deeply grateful to John Ferling for each of his previously published books and especially for his latest because, with rigor and eloquence, he brings to life persons and events that converged prior to, during, and following the American Revolution. These are his concluding observations: "In his first days as president, Jefferson, using a nautical metaphor, reflected in letters to friends that although the American Revolution had sailed through stormy seas, it 'stood the waves into which she was steered with a view to sink her.' But the American Revolution had at last arrived safely in port. The birthday of a new world was indeed at hand. America, President Jefferson continued, had 'returned...to sentiments worthy of former times' -- those of 1776."
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. The larger picure of the revolution By Dr. D A Dworaczyk This was a fascinating book, looking at a much more global view of the revolution and what was transpiring in England as well as in France and the rest of Europe. The author does a great job of weaving various threads of information together to paint a very complex and intricate picture of the whole situation. As with any major historical vent, nothing is a simple as it appears and there is a lot more to the story, if one looks. This book looks into that whole picture in a very interesting way. I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot of the mitigating circumstances that affected the outcome of the revolution as well as the face of Europe at the same point in history. This is a well written and interesting book.
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