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1775: A Good Year for Revolution
The contrarian historian and analyst upends the conventional reading of the American Revolution
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...more
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...more
Hardcover, 656 pages
Published
November 27th 2012
by Viking Adult
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I enjoyed this book, but would have given it four stars instead of three if it had been about 100 pages shorter. The author, Kevin Phillips, makes a very convincing argument that the year 1775 was the pivotal year in the War for Independence. We are taught to give some much credence to July 4, 1776, but in this thoroughly researched book, Mr. Phillips argues that the events of 1775 were much more critical to success. He cites the economic, religious and political events that were so important.
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The information about the Revolutionary time period was well written. Phillips gave a lot of information and background. Where the book fell apart was in his determination to make sure the reader agreed with his premise that 1775 was the most important year of the American Revolution. One of the most bothersome parts to his point was that part of 1774, all of 1775 and 1776 up until July 4 were part of 1775. Had this just been a book about those periods, without trying to "win an argument" about...more
What does a revolution make? Not just a Declaration of Independence. So says author Kevin Phillips in providing this comprehensive look at how the ingredients of the independent American pie were assembled and baked.
The title is sharply rhetorical, and reflects Phillips's own determination to jolt us out of our naive, mythological focus on 1776 and its neat narrative whereby the Declaration sowed dragon's teeth and generated soldiers who fought to a Yorktown finish. Phillips corrects this reduct...more
The title is sharply rhetorical, and reflects Phillips's own determination to jolt us out of our naive, mythological focus on 1776 and its neat narrative whereby the Declaration sowed dragon's teeth and generated soldiers who fought to a Yorktown finish. Phillips corrects this reduct...more
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If you enjoy well written history, then this book should bring you a lot of pleasure and enlightenment.
This is the first book I have read by Kevin Phillips and as someone who is fascinated by what drove the American revolutionaries to create something so radically different from anything, anywhere in the world at the time, I am impressed! This is not a historical novel, nor is it an attempt to tell the story of the American Revolution in a linear sense; rather it is a very easily readable exami...more
This is the first book I have read by Kevin Phillips and as someone who is fascinated by what drove the American revolutionaries to create something so radically different from anything, anywhere in the world at the time, I am impressed! This is not a historical novel, nor is it an attempt to tell the story of the American Revolution in a linear sense; rather it is a very easily readable exami...more
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 Pat...more
This is a critical look at the year prior to the Declaration when war and the separation from England really began. The Declaration, Phillips argues, was just putting a legal hat on it. Phillips takes you through the social strata and who was for which side and why. He breaks it down economically and religiously, down to the occupations of the period.
He talks about the attempt to invade Canada and the race to keep the army supplied in gunpowder. This is a global look at the revolution. It is not...more
He talks about the attempt to invade Canada and the race to keep the army supplied in gunpowder. This is a global look at the revolution. It is not...more
The author's point is that July 4, 1776 is an arbitrary date and then he proves it at great length and incredible detail. Seriously. He is a very academic writer who has done his research. I didn't enjoy reading the book because of his writing style. However, he describes the causes of the revolution (which were many that did not include freedom) clearly, and the importance of the southern colonies, specifically Virginia and South Carolina.
This is a book for people who have more patience than I...more
This is a book for people who have more patience than I...more
1775 is not an easy book to read but the effort is worth it. This analytical view of the American Revolution focuses on the year 1775 and provides ample evidence that this was the pivotal year where the American colonies made all the decisions that would lead to independence and the birth of the United States. The level of detail here is extraordinary; each colony is disected and the population is described in terms of religion, ethnicity, economic status and other factors that often determined...more
I had hoped Phillips' 1775 would be a sort of prequel to David McCullough's excellent 1776, but it is actually something else entirely. Phillips delves deeply into the causes of the American Revolution, focusing particularly on the economic and religious factors instead of the ideological factors that get most of the attention in popular histories of the war. The title references Phillips' thesis that the war was well underway by 1775. Most histories use the signing of the Declaration of Indepen...more
Adeptly combines military, political and economic histories. Not as strong on social or economic history, though, which resulted in chapters like "The Ideologies of Revolution" meandering in confusion. I suspect--though I am not well-read enough in the scholarship of the American Revolution to know for sure--that the author had set up a straw-man against which to counterpose his basic thesis. All that stated, it was a good book, and left me, among other things, wanting to know more about the lif...more
Just too much detail. Phillips has a very casual tone that makes reading him easy and comfortable, even for the non-historian, but the amount of research he brings to the book made it very difficult for me to stick with it. I think he does make a convincing argument that 1775 (or as he calls it the long year from mid 1774- to early 1776) significant in understanding the development of the revolutionary war.
I love reading about history, particularly Revolutionary era America. However, I realllllly did not like this book. I did learn some new information about the Revolution, such as the role that the Spanish played, and the twice failed effort of the British to invade the south. That did not make up for the fact that the author provides innumerable tedious details, repeats himself frequently, and, in the end, did not really prove his thesis that the key year for the American Revolution was 1775 and...more
1775 is not for the casual reader of American history. It is a very indepth book about why 1775 should be the start of the American Revolution. Phillips makes many good insights using primary source documentation as well as quotes from establish historians of many diffrent times.
An excellent book on the year 1775 that started the American Revolution. I like how it is broken down and talks about the battles and the politics that started the American Revolution. To me this is a different perspective of the American Revolution and what an impact it made.
Reivew forthcoming
Anyone trying to understand the foundation of the United States, should read this book. It shows it was messy throughout and that the mistakes by Britain where tremendous.
Very detailed insight into the economic, military and logistical information behind the Revolutionary War.
Very interesting book on the early stages of the American revolution.
Not a bad book, but a bit dry. A look at 1775 as the beginning of the Revolution.
dry
This book is packed with answers to how the American Revolution started and why it succeeded. It is very memorable but it seems to be written as if the author expected it to be studied more than read for pleasure. I believe this is a triumph of research. For the avid history reader, I highly recommend it, but for me, it was too much like a textbook.
Great info, but the writing was meh.
Well, it took me a long time to read this book as it is quite detailed. It is an excellent synopsis of the lead up to the American Revolution. After reading, it is easy to visualize why the Patriots won. I highly recommend 175.
not a bad book, good narrative, but didn't really say anything new.
I tried to finish this book, but only got halfway through.
It was interesting but so detailed that no matter how much reading I did, I never got very far. I got tired and gave up. Maybe another time.....
It was interesting but so detailed that no matter how much reading I did, I never got very far. I got tired and gave up. Maybe another time.....
A long book, but it left an impression on me regarding the founding of our country and its early years. Mr. Phillips has done it again.
an interesting idea, but Phillips just doesn't pull it off.
Kevin Phillips makes a compelling case that 1775 was at least as important as 1776 in the American Revolution and that the Patriots made many de facto declarations of independence well in advance of the moment we have all come to celebrate as the Birth of the Nation. I have to say his work came up short in convincing me that 1775 was more imporatant than 1776, the latter of which was the year that Americans throughout the colony took up the public debate that tipped the scales in favor of indepe...more
May 23, 2013
Alex
marked it as to-read
May 22, 2013
Jason Page
marked it as to-read
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