1775: Book summary and reviews of 1775 by Kevin Phillips

1775 Summary

In 1775, iconoclastic historian and bestselling author Kevin Phillips punctures the myth that 1776 was the watershed year of the American Revolution. He suggests that the great events and confrontations of 1775 - Congress's belligerent economic ultimatums to Britain, New England's rage militaire, the exodus of British troops and expulsion of royal governors up and down the seaboard, and the new provincial congresses and hundreds of local committees that quickly reconstituted local authority in Patriot hands - achieved a  sweeping Patriot control of territory and local government that Britain was never able to overcome.  These each added to the Revolution's essential momentum so when the British finally attacked in great strength the following year, they could not regain the control they had lost in 1775.

Analyzing the political climate, economic structures, and military preparations, as well as the roles of ethnicity, religion, and class, Phillips tackles the eighteenth century with the same skill and insights he has shown in analyzing contemporary politics and economics.  The result is a dramatic narrative brimming with original insights. 1775 revolutionizes our understanding of America's origins.

1775 Reviews

"Starred Review. Encyclopedic in exploring the political, economic, religious, ethnic, geographic, and military background of the Revolution, this is a richly satisfying, lucid history from the bestselling author." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. Casual readers may find Phillips' treatment a bit daunting, but serious history students will revel in the overwhelming detail he marshals to make his convincing argument. Impressively authoritative." - Kirkus Reviews

"Great for argumentative nonfiction book groups." - Library Journal

"[Phillips] long-awaited follow-up to this multi-disciplinary narrative is 1775, a work that upends conventional history of the American Revolutionary by supplanting the standard Fourth of July tableaux of battles and the Spirit of '76 with the previous watershed developments that made it inevitable. Major and multi-dimensional; instead of iconic hagiography, real history. - Barnes and Noble

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Kevin Phillips has been a political and an economic commentator for four decades. This is his fifteenth book. The predecessor to this book, The Cousins' Wars, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. He lives in Connecticut.