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by Richard Bell
A prize-winning historian's fascinating and unfamiliar recasting of America's war of independence as a transformative international event.
In this revelatory and enthralling book, award-winning historian Richard Bell reveals the full breadth and depth of America's founding event. The American Revolution was not only the colonies' triumphant liberation from the rule of an overbearing England; it was also a cataclysm that pulled in participants from around the globe and threw the entire world order into chaos. Repositioning the Revolution at the center of an international web, Bell's narrative ranges as far afield as India, Africa, Central America, and Australia. As his lens widens, the "War of Independence" manifests itself as a sprawling struggle that upended the lives of millions of people on every continent and fundamentally transformed the way the world works, disrupting trade, restructuring penal systems, stirring famine, and creating the first global refugee crisis. Bell conveys the impact of these developments at home and abroad by grounding the narrative in the gripping stories of individuals—including women, minorities, and other disenfranchised people. The result is an unforgettable and unexpected work of American history that shifts everything we thought we knew about our creation story.
"Based on solid and deep research, [this] book is written in clear, accessible prose—with entertaining minutia ... that will appeal to general readers with an interest in history. A fresh perspective on a familiar subject." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Riveting profiles provide a clear-eyed accounting of a formative conflict for the modern world." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The causes, course, and consequences of the war are given a fresh perspective and told in a spirited style. Recommended for anyone interested in U.S. and world history." —Library Journal (starred review)
"Richard Bell tells American history as if from a barstool, not a lecture podium. Giddy, rollicking, and bold, this is the story of America told up close and personal, with individuals and adventures summoned in deep, sensory detail, with all their nastiness and beauty. Infusing all is the critical idea that the dream, project, and revolution of America have always been bigger than its borders." —Ilyon Woo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Master Slave Husband Wife
"The American Revolution ranged across the seas, upon every inhabited continent, and across a 'vast global canvas,' as Richard Bell so powerfully exposes. His masterful synthesis provides accessible and impassioned entry to anyone interested in understanding the nation's founding from a dazzling, kaleidoscopic perspective. Highly recommended." —Ned Blackhawk, National Book Award-winning author of The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History
This information about The American Revolution and the Fate of the World was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Richard Bell is a British-born, American-trained historian of the early United States. A professor of history at the University of Maryland, he has been an NEH Public Scholar and an Andrew Carnegie Fellow, among other honors. His previous book, Stolen, was a finalist for the George Washington Prize and the Harriet Tubman Prize.
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