Battles Of The Revolutionary War: 1775-1781 (Major Battles and Campaigns Series) | 
 enlarge | Author: W.j. Wood
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $20.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 98693
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0306813297
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.33
EAN: 9780306813290
ASIN: 0306813297
Publication Date: December 24, 2003
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Product Description
The Americans did not simply outlast the British in the Revolutionary War, contends this author in a groundbreaking study, but won their independence by employing superior strategies, tactics, and leadership. Designed for the "armchair strategist" with dozens of detailed maps and illustrations, here is a blow-by-blow analysis of the men, commanders, and weaponry used in the famous battles of Bunker Hill, Quebec, Trenton, Princeton, Saratoga, and Cowpens.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
Useful summary of key Revolutionary War battles May 5, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
For those wanting to learn more about some of the key battles of the Revolutionary War, this isn't a bad starting point. John Eisenhower, in the Introduction, notes the approach adopted by the author, W. J. Wood (pages xiv-xv): ". . .he selects certain battles to describe, purposefully omitting others. His criteria for selection includes drama of a particular engagement, its ability to illustrate a certain military principle, and its uniqueness."
Needless to say, there will be questions as to which battles were selected and which were omitted. Only ten are included. These range from Bunker Hill to the Chesapeake Capes (for which, read Yorktown). Most represent American victories. One exception: the debacle at Quebec and, to some extent, Brandywine), and this is one issue: Why not the disastrous series of battles on Long Island and Manhattan? These illustrate the learning curve of George Washington and his top aides. Nonetheless, the battles covered here represent a reasonable choice.
Some of the other battles covered (besides those already mentioned) include Trenton and Princeton, Oriskany, Saratoga, King's Mountain, Cowpens, and Guilford Courthouse. The maps included in the text are useful for helping the reader to visualize what was going on. The text is competently written. There is enough detail to get a good sense of each battle (although, of course, there is not great detail on any single struggle).
In short, a nice volume for those who want a quick introduction to key battles of the Revolutionary War.
 Excellent Book December 14, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Given the scope and intent of this book, W. J. Wood does an excellent job. Particularly significant is his dispelling many myths about the weaponry and tactics that won the war. The introduction is extremely valuable. This is a must-have for any beginning or intermediate level student of the period.
Good military history June 14, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I finally got around to reading this and I must say it's pretty good. The battles are well researched and remain pretty clear as to what's going no. There's not much who, what, where, when, what's a flank? syndrome. The illustrations and battle schematics were helpful. I only wish there were more.
Some of the generals make out great. Tarleton and Greene look like geniuses. Which to some extent they were, but not as much as Wood makes them out to be. The only knock against Greene is that he never decidedly defeated Cornwallis, allowing him to "escape" to Virginia. While Tarleton could probably be called a butcher...or jerk.
Others are not spared, Benjamin Lincoln for example, is written off briefly as a bad general. One could argue that Lincoln was not really a bad general because his subordinates refused to co-operate with him or they failed him at crucial moments. Regardless of those 0pinions Washington thought fairly highly of him as he allowed Lincoln to accept Cornwallis's sword at Yorktown.
Wood does a decent job with sources. He gives the title of where his secondary information came from. But if you've ever seen a copy of the "Encyclopedia of the American Revolution" it's not going to be easy to find a three line quote. The author also includes a nice essay on sources. Although short the list points the reader in the right direction. Having been a historian and currently a library science person bibliographies are necessary for historical research. Sorry, you can't Google everything...yet.
Overall, this is an excellent book for dispelling that old myth of the yeoman farmer dropping the plow, picking up the family Kentucky rifle and laying waste to the British Army one shot - one kill style. Also a nice introduction to some of the more in-depth studies of the major battles, especially Saratoga.
Excellent choice May 23, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I picked this book up at a used bookstore just to have for my collection, but I have been amazed at how well this historical book is written. While it is not an all encompassing history of every battle, the author takes the chosen battles and does a fantastic job of putting the reader in the midst of the chaos. Some might have stated this book is biased toward the Patriot cause, but there is plenty in here to show that neither side was perfect nor totally morale in their actions. I think it does a good job of showing faults and failures on both sides.
Good, But Rather Biased Account July 7, 2006
8 out of 14 found this review helpful
This is a good account of some of the major battles of the Revolution, but the author's bias is so decidely pro-rebel that it takes away from the quality of the book. First, the selection of battles is very slanted. All American victories, with references made only to some of the other engagements. Thus we have no Monmouth, Brandywine, Germantown, Camden, etc. This makes hardly for a balanced account of the war.
The author consistantly seems to downgrade rebel casualties while usually increasing British ones. A noted example is Guiford Courthouse. While a costly British victory with perhaps more losses sustained, the author neglects to point out how knocked about Greene's army really was. The rebel army was shattered by mass desertions of nearly all its militia componet during and after the battle and was in no condition to take the field for some time. Also, the author praises Greene no end, yet it appears that he took little real part in the actual battle other than to order a retreat! None of this is mentioned in Wood's mostly Star-Spangled account!
This work reminds me of many of John Elting's books that were also decidely pro-American in outlook and often lacked non-bias. This is also a somewhat dated work. Readers would do well to balance this book with newer, more scholarly works that take an even-handed approach to the Revolution. Too many American historians get carried away with the Spirit of 76 element in their writings. The result is patriotic flag waving which some reviewers above perhaps never get tired of, but which does not always provide good, balanced history.
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