The Townshend Moment: The Making of Empire and Revolution in the Eighteenth Century

Griffin (American Leviathan), a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, shares the little-known tale of how, in 1767, two brothers ascended to the heights of British imperial power. As chancellor of the exchequer, Charles Townshend wielded fiscal power over the unruly American colonies, while his brother George sought to draw Ireland closer into Britain’s imperial orbit as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Griffin unravels the many contradictions and tensions that the “Townshend moment” brought to light—between metropolitan elites and provincial citizens, Catholics and Protestants, Americans and Irish—and their consequences for the fate of the Atlantic world. Even as George and Charles sought to extend sovereignty across the Atlantic and strengthen the interconnected bonds of empire, they unwittingly sowed the seeds of revolution. Recounted with rare clarity and precision, Griffin’s narrative neatly avoids the pitfalls of elite-centric history, commenting on the brothers’ unexceptional status as members of a robust 18th-century political culture that valued ambition above all else. “The accidents of history, then, created an open window for two men convinced the world was made of windows,” he writes, discarding any notions of inevitability regarding the Townshends’ lives and careers. Griffin’s attention to chance and circumstance results in a finely textured book that offers many surprises. [em](Dec.) [/em]