The First Salute

In this brilliant slice of American Revolutionary history, Tuchman ( A Distant Mirror , The Guns of August ) pits the 13 colonies against a rogues' gallery of British fools. We meet looting English admiral George Rodney who confiscated British-owned property and expelled the Jews after seizing the neutral isle of St. Eustatius, the chief West Indies depot in the transatlantic trade. British Governor Tryon of New York waged a terrorist campaign of murder, arson and plunder against Connecticut citizens in 1779, fanning the flames of rebellion. The British command was fractured by the hatred between neurotic commander-in-chief Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis, who disdained to make war on a tattered colonial militia. On the American side, the will to fight was exemplified by men like Reverend Naphtali Daggett, ex-president of Yale, a defiant old soldier on horseback. Expertly weaving political and military history, Tuchman lets you feel how Washington's victory at Yorktown sent shock-waves around the globe. Photos. 160,000 first printing; BOMC main selection. (October)