An American Crisis George Washington and the Dangerous Two Years After Yorktown, 1781-1783

by Fowler, Jr., William M.

• ISBN13: 9780802778086
• ISBN10: 0802778089
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-03-12
• Publisher: Walker Books

Summary

Many believe the American Revolution ended in October 1781, after Lord Cornwallis surrendered his British army at Yorktown. In fact, the war effectively continued for two more traumatic years. During that time, the American Revolution came as close to being lost as at any time since it began. In American Crisis, the distinguished historian William M. Fowler Jr. vividly chronicles this critical, rarely documented period through the eyes of those who lived and influenced it. He skillfully reveals the internal and personal tensions that paralyzed both the British government and Congress, antagonized loyalists and patriots still reeling from the years of conflict, and roiled the army from its leadership through the ranks-culminating in George Washington's legendary address to his officers on March 15, 1783, which may well have prevented the army from marching on Congress. Bringing original insight and fascinating perspective to the events and forces through which our independence was preserved, American Crisisfills an important gap in our understanding of the revolutionary period in America.

Author Biography

William M. Fowler Jr. is Distinguished Professor of History at Northeastern University in Boston. Prior to that, for eight years he was director of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He is the author of Empires at War: The French and Indian War and the Struggle for North America, 1754-1763; Jack Tars and Commodores: The American Navy, 1783-1815; The Baron of Beacon Hill: A Biography of John Hancock; and Samuel Adams: Radical Puritan. He lives in Reading, Massachusetts.