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The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777

(The Revolution Trilogy #1)

Rick Atkinson

4.45 · Rating details · 3,572 ratings · 587 reviews

In the initial volume of the Revolution Trilogy Rick Atkinson recounts the first twenty-one months of America’s violent war for independence. From the battles at Lexington and Concord in spring 1775 to those at Trenton and Princeton in winter 1777, American militiamen and then the ragged Continental Army take on the world’s most formidable fighting force. It is a saga aliv ...more

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Hardcover, 776 pages

Published May 14th 2019 by Henry Holt and Co.

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Jun 05, 2019 Jeffrey Keeten rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction, revolutionary-war

”The odds were heavily stacked against the Americans: no colonial rebellion had ever succeeded in casting off imperial shackles. But, as Voltaire had observed, history is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up.”

Whenever I read about the Amercian Revolution, I’m always struck by the enormity of the task our founding fathers were facing. They were not prepared for war, not in the least. They had no navy, no standing army, very few officers with mil ...more

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Sep 09, 2019 Matt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: american-revolution

“This would not be a war between regimes or dynasties, fought for territory or the usual commercial advantages. Instead, what became known as the American Revolution was an improvised struggle between two peoples of a common heritage, now sundered by divergent values and conflicting visions of a world to come. Unlike most European wars of the eighteenth century, this one would not be fought by professional armies on flat, open terrain with reasonable roads, in daylight and good weather. And thou ...more

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Jun 22, 2019 Lorna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: history, new-york, non-fiction-side-reads, history-book-club, re-read, american-revolution

The British are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 is a meticulously and deeply researched history of the American Revolution by renowned historian Rick Atkinson. This first volume of the anticipated Revolution Trilogy was riveting as you watch the struggling Continental Army up against the mighty and formidable forces of the British Army and Royal Navy dispatched by King George III. This is the story of the newly formed colonies in America and their struggle, not onl The British are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 is a meticulously and deeply researched history of the American Revolution by renowned historian Rick Atkinson. This first volume of the anticipated Revolution Trilogy was riveting as you watch the struggling Continental Army up against the mighty and formidable forces of the British Army and Royal Navy dispatched by King George III. This is the story of the newly formed colonies in America and their struggle, not only for freedom, but to forge a new democratic nation. Atkinson describes the first twenty-one months of the American Revolution with the battles at Lexington and Concord, to those at Trenton and Princeton, told in painful detail. We see each of these battles, not only from the point of view of the generals to the soldiers, but to those waiting at home. This was a fast-paced book as we see well known characters from our history to the more obscure. I, for one, will be anxiously awaiting Volume II of this remarkable tale of America's early and laudable history.

"Still, the British Army and Royal Navy had been driven off by a rabblement of farmers and shopkeepers. Led by low-born ascendant men like the plowman Israel Putnam, the anchorsmith Greene, and book vendor Knox. Washington had displayed persistence and integrity, as well as political agility. The revolutionary hour had passed, to be succeeded by other hours, some of them dreadful."

"That a large, balding American, renowned across Europe as a scientist, diplomat, and revolutionary, would remain inconspicuous as he trotted through the French provinces defied probability. Whatever the great man's purpose, Paris was alert and giddy while awaiting his arrival. When word spread in London of Franklin's advance in on Paris, British stocks fell."

"'Common Sense' had helped nudge Americans toward their declaration of independency, converting fence straddlers into patriots and patriots into radicals."

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of this country. But he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." -- Thomas Paine ...more

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Jun 15, 2019 Tony rated it really liked it

Shelves: top-10-2019

Anyone who has read Rick Atkinson's The Liberation Trilogy will understand that when he begins another massive examination of another war, the reader must follow. And right away.

And so, although I had not scheduled the Revolutionary War on my reading journey this year, and although the Revolutionary War is not my war, I really had no choice but to read this immediately. I was not disappointed.

This is a military history, but the story would not be complete without Ben Franklin's seducing the Fr ...more

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Nov 14, 2019 Dan rated it it was amazing

The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson

Three thousand patients jammed the hospital at Fort George, thirty miles south of Ticonderoga, where hemlock boughs served for bedding. “In the name of God,” one physician pleaded, “what shall we do with them all?” Too often the answer was: bury them. A surgeon estimated that three hundred men had died there in just over a month. When inventories were taken of drug supplies in September, five artillery companies reported, “Medicines — none.”

In this excerpt ...more

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Dec 07, 2020 Bryan Alkire rated it it was ok

Not my thing. As far as the British are concerned in this work, they can leave my ebook reader. To be fair, the writing isn’t that bad. But, it turned out to be mostly military and battle history and that’s just not something I really enjoy. It doesn’t help that it is over detailed. For every interesting detail, there’s 25-50 that don’t matter in the grand scheme of the war. There are even lots of sentences with four or five item lists and that drives me crazy. The longer I read, the less I like ...more

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May 22, 2019 David C Ward rated it it was ok

If everything is important, then nothing is. Writing history is as much about knowing what to leave out as to include in making a narrative or interpretation. In contrast, Atkinson piles on the minute, close grained details of military operations - much of this is a recitation of material and logistics - in a way that loses the forest for not just the trees but the pine needles. The result makes the Revolution dull while also missing all the things that made it important including why it was fou ...more

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Mar 28, 2020 David Eppenstein rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, history, american-history

The history of our Revolution and Founding is among my favorite reading subjects and Mr. Atkinson has become an author of some interest and appeal for me. When it was announced that he was beginning a Revolution Trilogy there wasn't much doubt of my making a purchase of this first volume. Now that I have read this book I give it 4 stars because its quality is deserving of that rating. However I have to admit that I had some difficulty with the book and I think this is more a problem of the reade The history of our Revolution and Founding is among my favorite reading subjects and Mr. Atkinson has become an author of some interest and appeal for me. When it was announced that he was beginning a Revolution Trilogy there wasn't much doubt of my making a purchase of this first volume. Now that I have read this book I give it 4 stars because its quality is deserving of that rating. However I have to admit that I had some difficulty with the book and I think this is more a problem of the reader, me, than the author. This first volume covers the first 2 years of the Revolution, 1775-77, and uses 564 pages of text to do so. I have read a great deal about the Revolution and few of the books I have read that covered the entire Revolution needed that much paper to do the job and do it well. So the length did become an issue for me but my knowledge also was a problem. Since my reading has been rather extensive another history of the Revolution was like reading a mystery novel where you know the ending. All the excitement, drama, and mystery are diminished but that is my problem and not the fault of the author so my rating is as objective a judgment as I can give on what the author has accomplished in this history and that is quite a bit.

Again, the length of the book that only deals with the first two years of the Revolution did seem odd and then to think that there are two more books yet to come had me scratching my head. I could not imagine why Atkinson needed such a weight of pages to cover such a well traveled road. My hope was that he had more information, more detail, and better analysis than anybody else has had. Considering the popularity of the subject, however, I also thought that highly unlikely. I was, to an extent, wrong. Atkinson does travel the same road as all other authors but he does it far more comprehensively. I suspect that when this trilogy is completed it will be unnecessary for anybody to own another treatment of the history of the American Revolution.

This book didn't just cover the events of these two years. This book covered all the events in all three theaters of combat operations and did it in a fairly chronological order. Most histories will deal with one theatre or one battle while others will cover the whole Revolution but only the major events. This book covers the events leading up to the conflict as well as all the major combats and many obscure actions and events involving minor historical figures and does so in full satisfactory detail. Further, the author reports the events from the points of view of each side as well as the political developments in London. There is also a wealth of new detail both regarding the people involved on both sides which includes brief bios, their behavior in the field, and the problems facing them. One area that I enjoyed a great deal that gets some serious treatment is the logistics. The logistical demands and deficiencies of both armies is frequently recounted in detail. This information makes one wonder how the English could have seriously thought it possible to pursue this war at all. Of course the same information makes you wonder how in the heck the Americans could have thought to have started this war. Both sides were equally insane and the basis for this shared insanity is laid out in utterly complete detail in this book. It would appear that Mr. Atkinson is attempting to write a definitive history of the American Revolution and this first volume is a good foundation for what is surely to come. ...more

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Apr 13, 2019 Steve Smits rated it it was amazing

This is a remarkable history of the first two years of the American Revolution. The research is deep and the topics covered are broad. Atkinson has chosen to write not only on the military campaigns but also the political currents at play in America, England and France,and on the personalities that shaped the decisions on both sides. The narrative is told in chronological order making it easy to follow the events as they unfolded and making the connections between various dimensions clear to see ...more

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Jan 16, 2021 Henry rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

A magnificent and monumental history that covers the beginning of the American Revolution through the Battle of Princeton in January, 1777. This book is Volume I of what Atkinson anticipates will be his Revolution Trilogy. It is meticulously researched with almost 200 pages of notes and sources, and, of course, a detailed index. It is extremely well written. Atkinson has taken a story that everyone knows and fleshed it out with incredible detail that illuminates the drama from both the American ...more

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Aug 04, 2019 Sean Smart rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A masterful detailed account and the first volume in Atkinson’s planned series of Histories of the American Revolution/American War of Independence.

My only small issue was a perceived bias of the American author for the American rebels.
It seemed at times that the British were all fools and or rogues and all the Americans were fighting the British despite some references to Loyalists, when most figures show one third of Americans were rebels, one third were Loyalists and one third tried to stay n ...more

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Dec 28, 2020 Sonny rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history, favorites, revolutionary-war

― “This would not be a war between regimes or dynasties, fought for territory or the usual commercial advantages. Instead, what became known as the American Revolution was an improvised struggle between two peoples of a common heritage, now sundered by divergent values and conflicting visions of a world to come.”
― Rick Atkinson, The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777

The British Are Coming is the first installment in a projected trilogy about the Revolution ― “This would not be a war between regimes or dynasties, fought for territory or the usual commercial advantages. Instead, what became known as the American Revolution was an improvised struggle between two peoples of a common heritage, now sundered by divergent values and conflicting visions of a world to come.”
― Rick Atkinson, The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777

The British Are Coming is the first installment in a projected trilogy about the Revolutionary War by author Rick Atkinson, a former Washington Post journalist who has won Pulitzer Prizes in both history and journalism. It is a sweeping epic. For the most part, The British Are Coming is organized chronologically with the battles taking center stage: Lexington and Concord, Boston and Bunker Hill, Norfolk, the burning of Charlestown, Sullivan’s Island, New York City, Lake Champlain, and the American catastrophes at Quebec and Fort Washington, to the surprising and resounding victories at Trenton and Princeton. Yet, in addition to a superb military history, Atkinson also gives us an outstanding diplomatic history. In addition to Benjamin Franklin’s diplomacy in Paris to win French aid for the American cause, Atkinson gives us an excellent account of events in Europe: King George III inspecting his fleet at Portsmouth, British supply and shipping problems, as well as British recruitment efforts (the author spent a month at Windsor Castle in 2016 combing through the official and private papers of George III, courtesy of the queen herself, as well as a “vast trove” of government documents).

The author also gives the reader pleasingly new characterizations of the leading characters—an unsure George Washington, a pensive King George III, a courageous Benedict Arnold. In this way, he makes a familiar story about America new again. As one might expect, the book’s key figure is George Washington, whose determination and ability to act boldly made up for what he lacked in experience early in the campaign. His calm bearing and charisma inspired the farmers, frontiersmen, and shopkeepers who made up his army. Washington understood that the colonies could not win by directly confronting the British. His best strategy was to wear them down, fighting on their own terms and then retreat. “The British, after all, had to win the war; the Americans only had to avoid losing it,” Atkinson writes. Where Atkinson especially excels is in uncovering the experience of ordinary men and women caught up in the conflict. In his own inimitable way, Atkinson rescues the American Revolution from the sentimental stereotypes and bring the war to life as an ugly, violent, often barbaric war. While combining all of these aspects would be a challenge for most authors, Rick Atkinson weaves it all together seamlessly.

― “The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves.… The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army.… Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world, that a freeman contending for liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.”
― Rick Atkinson, The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777

Atkinson is a superb researcher (he does all of his own research). The exhaustive research involved is scholarship involved is impressive—his endnotes alone cover 133 pages. He makes good use of information from letters and journals to give the reader a sense of what it would have been like to walk in the shoes of both the war’s leaders and its lesser participants. But more importantly Atkinson is a master storyteller (“To say that Atkinson can tell a story is like saying Sinatra can sing…” Joseph Ellis) and a superb writer. Atkinson has considerable narrative talents and great powers of description (“[Atkinson has a] felicity for turning history into literature….” George Will, The Washington Post).

Rick Atkinson is emerging as one of America’s most talented writers and historians. The British Are Coming is frankly a superb masterpiece of history. Even if you have read considerably about the American Revolution, this book gives the reader a sense of discovering the American Revolution for the very first time. There is a newness to Atkinson’s narrative that surpasses any previous Revolutionary War narrative. Anyone reading it will be anxiously awaiting the next volume. ...more

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Dec 16, 2018 Lucas rated it really liked it

Shelves: world-affairs, american-history

This book does an excellent job of covering the first few years of the Revolutionary War from all angles; British and American, General and foot soldier, military battles and political battles. I think the length is about right for such a formidable task. Key battles and characters are covered in detail without lingering too long on any one subject.

With so many people featured, no one figure is covered at the length of an individual biography, but the essence of many individuals are captured. I This book does an excellent job of covering the first few years of the Revolutionary War from all angles; British and American, General and foot soldier, military battles and political battles. I think the length is about right for such a formidable task. Key battles and characters are covered in detail without lingering too long on any one subject.

With so many people featured, no one figure is covered at the length of an individual biography, but the essence of many individuals are captured. I was particularly impressed by the depth that was provided on George Washington, who is often seen by historians as a bit steely and impenetrable. Washington went through a profound depression during the first few years of the war, and this is pulled into focus by some of the letters to his confidants that are quoted. He was commanding an army that was lacking men, supplies, order or experience. His ability was constantly questioned, and he made several costly mistakes in early battles. His life was constantly at risk and hope always felt nearly lost.

One person that I would have liked to see a more thorough examination of was King George III. He is featured in the book, and his position on continuing the war and breaking the rebellious spirit is documented, but there seems like more going on psychologically with him than is explained. For instance, the author references that George started to get very into farming and purchased numerous books about it. I would have liked more explanation of his personal travails and interests, and how they may have influenced his decision making.

The British side overall though is well covered, with detailed portrayals of General Howe and others. Although many Americans understand that the colonial army was greatly lacking in supplies and food, this book does a great job of highlighting some of the same issues for the British side. They essentially had to ship everything over the ocean, and ran into lots of problems doing so. Horses and men would be shipped over, and enormous percentages would die in transit. Other British challenges are given keen attention as well. The British truly had to find a way to win the war and crush the rebellious spirit of a fledgling nation, while the American side could win simply by not losing for long enough.

Another thing I enjoyed about the book was the incredible quotes that were used, ranging from Kant, to Voltaire, to Adam Smith. The first-hand accounts about post-battle medical attention really enliven the severity of the combat. If I had one quibble about the quotes it would be that John Adams, although admittedly a quote machine, is possibly over-quoted. His writings are referenced disproportionately throughout the book, even though in many cases he is an outside observer.

Overall though I found the book very enjoyable. I generally prefer biography to wide-ranging military history like this, but The British Are Coming is sufficiently well paced and shifting to stay interesting.

Note: I received an advanced copy of this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ...more

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May 15, 2019 Ash Jogalekar rated it really liked it

When the British army of regulars captured American troops during the Battle of New York, they contemptuously noted how they were surprised to see so many ordinary people among them – tanners, brewers, farmers, metal workers, carpenters and the like. That observation in one sense summed up the difference between the British and American causes: a ragtag group of ordinary citizens with little battle experience pitted against a professional, experienced and disciplined army belonging to a nation t When the British army of regulars captured American troops during the Battle of New York, they contemptuously noted how they were surprised to see so many ordinary people among them – tanners, brewers, farmers, metal workers, carpenters and the like. That observation in one sense summed up the difference between the British and American causes: a ragtag group of ordinary citizens with little battle experience pitted against a professional, experienced and disciplined army belonging to a nation that then possessed the biggest empire since the Roman Empire. The latter were fighting for imperial power, the former for conducting an experiment in individual rights and freedom. The former improbably won.

Rick Atkinson shows us how in this densely-packed, rousing military history of the first two years of the Revolutionary War. The Americans kept on foiling the British through a combination of brilliant tactical retreats, dogged determination, improvisation and faith in providence. His is primarily a military history that covers the opening salvo in Lexington and Concord to the engagements in Princeton and Trenton and Washington's legendary crossing of the frozen Delaware. However, there is enough observational detail on the social and political aspects of the conflict and the sometimes larger than life personalities involved to make it a broader history. The account could be supplemented with other political histories such as ones by Gordon Wood, Bernard Bailyn and Joseph Ellis to provide a fuller view of the politics and the personalities.

Atkinson’s greatest strength is to bring an incredible wealth of detail to the narrative and pepper it with primary quotes from not just generals and soldiers but from ordinary men and women. His other big strength is logistical information. No detail seems to escape his eye; the number and tonnage of food and clothing provisions and shipping, sundry details of types of weapons, ships, beasts of burden and ammunition, the kinds of diseases riddling the camps and the medieval medicine used to treat them (some of them positively so - "oil of whelps" was a grotesque substance concocted from white wine, earthworms and the flesh of dogs boiled alive), ditties and plays that were being performed by the soldiers ("Clinton, Burgoyne, Howe, Bow, wow, wow"), the constantly-changing weather, the political machinations in Whitehall and the Continental Congress…the list goes on and on. Sometimes the overwhelming detail can be distracting – for instance do we need to know the exact number of blankets and weight of salt pork supplied during the eve of a particular battle? – but overall the dense statistics and detail have the effect of immersing the reader in the narrative.

The major battles – Lexington and Bunker Hill, Long Island and Manhattan, Quebec and Ticonderoga, Charleston and Norfolk, Princeton and Trenton – are dissected with fine detail and rousing descriptions of men, material, the thrust and parry at the front and the desperation, disappointments, retreats and triumphs that often marked the field of battle. The writing can occasionally be almost hallucinatory: "Revere swung into the saddle and took off at a canter across Charlestown Neck, hooves striking sparks, rider and steed merged into a single elegant creature, bound for glory". The accounts of the almost unbelievably desperate and excruciating winter fighting and retreat in Canada are probably the highlights of the military narratives. Lesser-known conflicts in Virginia and South Carolina in which the British were squarely routed also get ample space. Particularly interesting is the improbable and self-serving slave uprising drummed up by Lord Dunmore, Virginia's governor, and the far-reaching fears that it inspired in the Southern Colonies. Epic quotes that have become part of American history are seen in a more circumspect light; for instance, it’s not clear who said “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes” during Bunker Hill, and instead of the famous “The British are coming” cry that is attributed to Paul Revere, it’s more likely that he said “The regulars are coming.” Also, the British army might have been experienced, but they too were constantly impacted by shortage of food and material, and this shortage was a major factor in many of their decisions, including the retreat from Boston. Brittania might have ruled the waves, but she wasn’t always properly nourished.

The one lesson that is constantly driven home is how events that seem providential and epic now were so uncertain and riddled with improvisation and desperation when they happened; in that sense hindsight is always convenient. Atkinson makes us aware of the sheer miserable conditions the soldiers and generals lived in; the threadbare clothing which provided scant protection against the cold, the horrific smallpox, dysentery and other diseases which swept entire battle companies off the face of the planet without warning and the problems constantly posed by loyalists and deserters to American patriots. There were many opportunities for men to turn on one another, and yet we also see both friends and enemies being surprisingly humane toward each other. In many ways, it is Atkinson’s ability to provide insights across a wide cross-section of society, to make the reader feel the pain and uncertainty faced by ordinary men and women, that contribute to the uniqueness of his writing.

Atkinson paints a sympathetic and sometimes heroic portrait of both British politicians and military leaders, but he also makes it clear how clueless, bumbling and misguided they were when it came to understanding the fundamental DNA of the colonies, their frontier spirit, their Enlightenment thinking and their very different perception of their relationship with Britain. A excellent complement to Atkinson’s book for understanding British political miscalculations leading up to the war would be Nick Bunker’s “An Empire on the Edge”. While primarily not a study of personality, Atkinson’s portraits of American commanders George Washington, Benedict Arnold, Henry Knox, Charles Lee, Israel Putnam and British commanders William and Richard Howe, George Clinton, Guy Carleton and others are crisp and vivid. Many of these commanders led their men and accomplished remarkable feats through cold and disease, in the wilderness and on the high seas; others like American John Sullivan in Canada and Briton George Clinton in Charleston could be remarkably naive and clueless in judging enemy strength and resolve. Atkinson also dispels some common beliefs; for instance, while the rank and file were indeed generally inexperienced, there were plenty of more senior officers including Washington who had gained good fighting experience in the ten-year-old French and Indian War. As a general, Washington’s genius was to know when to retreat, to make the enemy fight a battle of attrition, to inspire and scold when necessary, and somehow to keep this ragtag group fighting men and their logistical support together, emerging as a great leader in the process. He was also adept at carefully maneuvering the levers of Congress and to keep driving home the great need for ammunition, weapons and ordinary provision through a mixture of cajoling and appeals to men’s better angels.

For anyone wanting a detailed and definitive military history of the Revolutionary War, Atkinson’s book is highly recommended. It gives an excellent account of the military details of the “glorious cause” and it paints a convincing account of the sheer improbability and capriciousness of its success. ...more

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Jun 24, 2019 Ozymandias rated it it was amazing

Shelves: american, history, english

This is a very good general overview of the American Revolution told from a military perspective. Or rather, it’s the first part of a trilogy on the Revolution and covers from the early days in Boston (1774/5) to the battles of Trenton and Princeton (1776/7). The highlight of the book is the author’s military understanding and ability to express it in words. There is little that is superfluous here, although the author does display a skill at integrating interesting tangents in ways that enhanci This is a very good general overview of the American Revolution told from a military perspective. Or rather, it’s the first part of a trilogy on the Revolution and covers from the early days in Boston (1774/5) to the battles of Trenton and Princeton (1776/7). The highlight of the book is the author’s military understanding and ability to express it in words. There is little that is superfluous here, although the author does display a skill at integrating interesting tangents in ways that enhancing rather than distracting from the account. The prose is excellent and keeps the reader engaged, and the chapter titles are well chosen, being mainly taken from the statements of contemporaries, such as Washington’s “the retrograde motion of things” after the defeat at Fort Washington or “a sentimental manner of making war” after Germain’s complaint about those advocating peaceful solutions after the first blows have been struck. Such titles do much to capture the reader’s interest. As befitting a more popular history, the book is heavy on anecdotes and first-hand accounts and rather lighter on analysis.

One thing that I really appreciate about this book is that it doesn’t just focus on the famous elements of the war, it tries to provide as wide a view as possible. It begins, for example, not in the colonies but in England, where George III is having a celebration in Portsmouth. In fact, one of the book’s greatest strengths is its depiction of the English viewpoint, which is something that has been understandably forgotten in other accounts. And this focus on the forgotten elements of the war extends through the rest of the book as well. We get the expected accounts of Lexington and Concord (again, told largely from the British POV in a somewhat terrifying account of a march into the wild frontier of some backwards land), Bunker Hill, and New York, before ending with the battles of Trenton and Princeton. But we also get an account of the raising of armies in England and Ireland as well as TWO detailed chapters on the war in Canada. I’ve read a lot of books on the Revolution but I’ve never heard the siege of Quebec described in such detail. While it’s honestly not as exciting as the big name battles (and it sure undermines the gung-ho narrative of plucky freedom-fighters warring against tyranny) I appreciate the fact that we get a well-rounded look at the whole war.

There are a few issues that I have. The chief one is that it’s prone to misusing quotes, or perhaps simply using the wrong ones. I enjoyed reading the contemporary excerpts. It’s always interesting to hear what participants thought of things. But he also feels the need to quote any turn of phrase that he finds particularly pithy. You can’t go two pages without seeing a sentence containing something like “ ‘the something of something’ as Historian put it.” I found it very grating. Consultation of a wide range of secondary sources is praiseworthy for a historian, but reproducing their every statement seems less like consultation and more like copying the selected highlights.

In any event, the book is an excellent introduction to the wars of the American Revolution and manages to capture the feel of the period well. As a broad overview of the war it does its job superbly. Naturally, it has its limitations and has little time for broader social or cultural trends, nor do we get much of a feel for events outside the warzone except through the narrow lens of the king and prime minister. But as an account of the general course of the warfare it’s hard to beat. I look forward to the subsequent volumes. ...more

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Sep 26, 2019 Christopher rated it it was amazing

Shelves: military-affairs, history, united-states

The United States of America was first forged in the fires of the American Revolution. The War for Independence is where the American experiment in self-government truly begins. But, aside from the key moments in the first years of the Revolution, few Americans know how the war was fought and won. There have been some books that have focused on a particular battle or person during the Revolution, but too few authors have attempted to take a more comprehensive look at the entire war. This book fr The United States of America was first forged in the fires of the American Revolution. The War for Independence is where the American experiment in self-government truly begins. But, aside from the key moments in the first years of the Revolution, few Americans know how the war was fought and won. There have been some books that have focused on a particular battle or person during the Revolution, but too few authors have attempted to take a more comprehensive look at the entire war. This book from the author of the Liberation Trilogy, which charted America fighting in the European Theater during World War II, rectifies that with an incredibly thorough look at the first two years of the American Revolution.

The first thing that should strike readers about this book is just how balanced it is. Rather than just focus the Americans, which is easy to do, Mr. Atkinson has done an incredible amount of research on the British side of the war, even accessing papers from King George III that had not been previously made public or even catalogued by the British government. This incredible amount of research gives a sympathetic light to both the Americans and the British and shows that, while British had far greater resources at hand than the Americans, the war effort on the British end wasn't smooth sailing either. It also gives a certain amount of balance and credence to the book, especially when Mr. Atkinson talks about how it was mostly rabid American patriots, not the British, who destroyed Norfolk, VA, in 1776 (though the British did do some damage too).

The other great thing about this book is just how crystal clear Mr. Atkinson's descriptions of the battles are. Through the use of maps and amazing descriptive details, Mr. Atkinson shows just how bloody and brutal the fighting could get. His descriptions of the Battles of Bunker Hill and Princeton were particular high points. Admittedly, some of the descriptions could get a little muddled, but I think that was more my fault than Mr. Atkinson's.

What is missing from this book are some of the political details. There are very few discussions about the debates in Congress or Parliament, with only some focus given to key political leaders, like Ben Franklin, John Adams, Lord North, Lord Germain, and, of course, King George III. Indeed, there is zero talk about the debates over the Declaration of Independence. It just shows up in Washington's camp in New York one day and is read to the troops soon afterwards. This is, actually, all for the best as Mr. Atkinson's focus on the military aspects of the war, not the minutiae of revolutionary politics. Besides, there plenty of other books that talk about the politics, so Mr. Atkinson is wise to focus on the fighting instead. He does give attention to the diplomatic side though as an entire chapter is devoted to Ben Franklin's arrival in France in late 1776. It only makes up one small chapter in an otherwise large book, but I would not be surprised in Mr. Atkinson is previewing some themes in his future volumes.

Overall, this is the book on the War for Independence that I and, I assume, a lot of other military history buffs have been waiting for. It's going to be a long, hard wait for volume two of this new series and I, for one, will be waiting in eager anticipation for it. ...more

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Jul 11, 2019 Chris Farrell rated it it was amazing

For those who are fans of Rick Atkinson’s tremendous Liberation Trilogy covering the US involvement in WWII, this may be slightly disappointing. In my opinion it’s not quite as good - the prose style isn’t super-tight, and I’ve become a bit disenchanted with the “historical present” voice that modern historians use to make history feel more immediate (did he use it in the Liberation Trilogy? I don’t remember it being as prominent).

One of the things that was great about the Liberation Trilogy was ...more

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Jul 19, 2019 Ken rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history, contemporary, finished-in-2019

As histories go, a good one. Eminently readable, as they say, with chapters jumping from this front (say, Quebec) to that front (how's about Boston or New York?) to that front (Bad King George Trifecta in Not-So-Jolly-Olde).

Civil Wars are the nastiest, and the Brits considered this one of those oxymoronic messes. One of the earlier proofs that you can't win wars on another country's turf, especially if the "army" fights "unfair" (read: from behind rocks and trees instead of in the open in bright ...more

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Jul 09, 2019 Cynda rated it liked it

Shelves: read-2019, reading-mostly-nonfiction-2019, history-north-american-and-usa, military

3 1/2 Stars

Military history is not much my thing, but this was a group read for GR Nonfiction Side Reads. Also I wanted to read as part of my stack of American Revolution/North American to US History study in honor of US Independence Day.

At first I was unsure about committing to this book due to the amount of details and number of pages. Now I am glad I have read the book. I knew enough to feel adequately conversant about some aspects of the American Revolution and fully able to Follow any discu ...more

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Jun 19, 2019 Richard Subber rated it it was amazing

Atkinson offers an appealing mix of academic rigor and entertaining prose. This is both a history and an expertly rendered story about the early stages of the American Revolutionary War.

If you think you know a lot about this critical time during our history, read The British Are Coming to broaden your knowledge and your understanding. If you’re working at being a student of the Revolution, dig in.

Read more of my book reviews and poems here:
www.richardsubber.com ...more

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May 31, 2019 Ned Frederick rated it liked it

This history of the Revolutionary War often wore me down with its obsession with trivial details, but just as often it inspired me. I suppose serious students of history would be in hog heaven learning that precisely 368 horses were commandeered during the occupation of Boston. Or, how about this list of abandoned items discovered after the evacuation of Boston: 1,107 blankets, 236 stoves, 582 iron pots, and a thousand buckets, as well as 350 tons of hay, 79 horses, and 27 wagons? Frankly, a lot This history of the Revolutionary War often wore me down with its obsession with trivial details, but just as often it inspired me. I suppose serious students of history would be in hog heaven learning that precisely 368 horses were commandeered during the occupation of Boston. Or, how about this list of abandoned items discovered after the evacuation of Boston: 1,107 blankets, 236 stoves, 582 iron pots, and a thousand buckets, as well as 350 tons of hay, 79 horses, and 27 wagons? Frankly, a lot of this logistics porn comes across as filler. I’m no historian, I confess, but much of this heafty tome (800 pages!) seemed to revel in minutiae of the boring kind which unfortunately disrupted the narrative flow in a frustrating way. To this reviewer’s mind, a nicely organized appendix would have been a much better place to tuck away all those nerdy nuggets of knowledge, leaving a nicely paced story for the rest of us, who are just interested in what happened and maybe why. Now that I’ve vented about the overabundance of tedium, I hasten to point out that The British are Coming is not all boring. Far from it. We are often treated to Atkinson's engagingly dramatic narrative style with frequent zoomed-in unit level detail including battle scenes, so graphically detailed as to suggest abattoir rather than armed conflict. Big picture, God’s-eye-view perspectives are also used with great effect, including fleshed-out, state-of-mind imaginings of key figures, like Washington, Adams, Franklin, and so on. Perhaps most engaging was the rich detailing of the human landscape and mindscape during the long periods between major battles. At times it seemed as if winning was more about who could make and secure the most stuff and how many soldiers and sailors could endure various epidemics like dysentery, typhus and smallpox, than how good either side's generals were at strategy and tactics, or who had the bravest or even most war fighters. Well done, by and large, but I would have preferred an abridged version. More Readers Digest than Cliff Notes, mind you, but decidedly leaner on minute details.
The final three chapters rescued this read for me as the narrated events depicted rescued the war. They contained a stirring account of the events surrounding and including the Delaware crossings that turned the tide for the desperate Continental Army in December of ‘76.

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Jul 07, 2020 Robert Sheard rated it liked it

If you want a (very) deep dive into the Revolutionary War, this is the trilogy for you. But for me, and I imagine for most general readers, this is far too much trivial information and the overarching narrative of the war gets lost in the details. It's a shame because I really enjoyed Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy. ...more

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Jun 08, 2020 Tom rated it really liked it

Thomas Paine's words “These are the times that try men’s souls.” aptly describes the predicaments the American rebels find themselves in this first book of the trilogy. ...more

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Jan 28, 2020 Vincent rated it it was amazing

This is a really good history of the beginning of the war. Atkinson continues to yield the inciteful and thoughtful extra comments and information that I have found in his other books.
I am just disappointed that I could not read through to finish the whole war - but I hope it will come - this is book one of a planned three book trilogy.

But the maps, although good, were a bit lacking and I supplemented the book with maps from A Battlefield Atlas of the American Revolution by Craig Symonds which g ...more

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Apr 01, 2020 Fred Svoboda rated it really liked it

Good Lord, this is wonderfully written, stylish and well illustrated with detailed examples from the times. Thus it is both an overview and an ant's-eye view of the American Revolution.

At 750+ pages of fairly small type this is going to take a while to get through (and it's only 1/3 of the Revolution), but it's all interesting so far.

The fairly long prologue focusing primarily on George III and his fall from triumph in the Seven Years' War to the folly of his American policy is full of gems and Good Lord, this is wonderfully written, stylish and well illustrated with detailed examples from the times. Thus it is both an overview and an ant's-eye view of the American Revolution.

At 750+ pages of fairly small type this is going to take a while to get through (and it's only 1/3 of the Revolution), but it's all interesting so far.

The fairly long prologue focusing primarily on George III and his fall from triumph in the Seven Years' War to the folly of his American policy is full of gems and the high point of the book. I kept interrupting my wife's reading of something else to read her paragraphs from it, and she did not object. It is a great read, but also a sad one, as British arrogance and obtuseness converted many Americans from the feeling that they were loyal Englishmen to the desire to separate at all costs.

A little later on, Atkinson's one page evocation of London of the time is just marvelous, with little details of city life including people who lived in cellars with their sheep and cows! Who knew?

Atkinson took a lot of time on this but also must have had one or more very good researchers feeding him details; there's so much here to appreciate.

Okay, I now am done with the book, part one of a projected trilogy. It is not perfect; in particular spent a lot of time on moment-t0-moment battlefield accounts, but of course there is a big market for this stuff, of which Atkinson no doubt is well aware. The Brits continue obtuse as they thought their government the best in the world--as it probably had been up until the American Revolution, which proved to be truly revolutionary in its re-imagining of the sources of political legitimacy. The Brits' continued belief in the superiority of "the better sort" continued to make them not understand opposing officers who in many cases were not gentlemen but sometimes farmers and craftsmen and similar folks. The Americans sometimes are brilliant, as for example in forcing the British out of Boston by building fortifications protecting cannon in Dorchester literally overnight. But they really have to learn to pursue their natural advantages. A woeful example: Washington dithers A LOT and at one point leaves several thousand troops in Fort Washington on Manhattan on the theory that they easily can be evacuated west across the Hudson River. This was quite true, right up to the moment when the British surrounded them and forced them to surrender. The American officers were paroled and allowed to rent lodgings in New York; the enlisted men were sent into prisons and prison ships where about 2/3 of them died, apparently not worth the Brits' attention.

Before and after this episode General Howe and his older brother Admiral Howe are pursuing the Americans, who mostly retreat, not always in the nick of time. The book ends with the Americans having retreated into New Jersey and after having savaged British troops at the Second Battle of Trenton, waiting for the inevitable crushing defeat to be inflicted by the British the next day. Washington (not a great tactician, but learning) holds a counsel of war, during which some brilliant person suggests, more or less, "Well, if they are going to crush us here tomorrow, why should we wait for it? Let's go elsewhere." Elsewhere is Princeton, with a lot of British supplies and a relatively small British garrison. In the morning the Brits at Trenton eventually see that only a few Americans have been left to look and sound like an army. Distant cannonading reveals what's up, but by the time the main British force gets to Princeton the Americans are long gone in retreat into New Jersey, where the British had hoped to spend a comfortable winter. The Brit end up surviving the winter on salt pork, and we await the next phase.

Incidentally, the above account much understates British and Hessian brutality that Atkinson covers in detail, include the murder of surrendering Americans and a lot of rape of American women, apparently a Hessian specialty. Washington's wisdom is well seen here. Rather than just killing Hessian prisoners, probably richly deserved, he sends them into rural Pennsylvania where people already speak German, and one is not surprised that a number of these men decide to stay in America rather than returning to a German state that rented them out as cannon fodder.

While Atkinson spends a lot of time conveying the British point of view, I can't imagine that this book will be a big seller in the British Isles. It conveys British arrogance of power and self-righteousness, (something Americans also have been guilty of since). Americans of the 1800s knew this history well; the British were lucky that we came to their support in WWI completing a process of forgetting and forgiving that took more than a century.
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May 13, 2019 Melissa Dee rated it it was amazing

Rick Atkinson’s flair for the colorful detail of a country at war is demonstrated again in “The British are Coming”. I’ve long been a fan of Atkinson, and his “Liberation Trilogy”, and am delighted that he has brought his research and writing talents to the early battles of the Revolutionary War in Volume 1 of the Revolution Trilogy.

Atkinson brings the horror and glory of battle vividly to life with quotes from the actors themselves, from the lowliest to the the most exalted. His descriptions of ...more

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Apr 04, 2019 Casey Wheeler rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, history, net-galley, us-history, goodreads, revolutionary-war

This is the first in a three part series on the Revolutionary War. It is by far the most comprehensive book I have read about the time period (and I have read several) presenting the perspectives of both sides and a number of the individuals involved. This book is not one for someone who is a casual history reader nor without a keen interest in the subject due to the detail in the book. I personally found the book rewarding and well worth the time spent reading it. I am looking forward to the n ...more

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Jun 21, 2019 Peter rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history, military

In The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 (2019) Rick Atkinson, one of today's most popular military historians, has time-travelled from his home base in WWII to the American Revolution . This history of the Revolutions first two years is lush, with deep detail and great background, and studded with excellent maps. Atkinson's contribution is particularly timely in these modern days of miseducation, when many citizens know nothing of WWII, much less the Ame ...more

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Aug 26, 2019 Jill rated it really liked it

The poem "Concord Hymn" by Ralph Waldo Emerson paid tribute to the famous Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first official military engagements between Britain and the colonies in the American Revolutionary War (1775-83). Tensions had been building for many years between residents of the thirteen American colonies and the British authorities, particularly in Massachusetts. Emerson's poem describes "the shot heard round the world" fired by Patriots at the North Bridge in what is now Charlesto ...more

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Aug 09, 2019 Stephen rated it really liked it

While I consider his other trilogy amongst the best history I have read, I think the British are Coming falls slightly short of those lofty highs. In particular, I think Atkinson's strengths are in his tireless primary research which fuses the story at the top, from notable elites on both sides, with the story at the bottom, from ordinary participants. Here, because of the temporal remoteness of the subjects and the selection effect of what is notable historiography worth keeping over the centur ...more

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The History Book ...: * WE ARE OPEN - SPOTLIGHTED BOOK - THE BRITISH ARE COMING: THE WAR FOR AMERICA, LEXINGTON TO PRINCETON, 1775-1777 (THE REVOLUTION TRILOGY #1) - Week Eleven - July 20th - July 26th, 2020 - Catch-Up Week - Epilogue (pages 555 - 574) Non Spoiler Thread	25	56	Nov 27, 2020 10:03AM
The History Book ...: * WE ARE OPEN - SPOTLIGHTED BOOK: THE BRITISH ARE COMING: THE WAR FOR AMERICA, LEXINGTON TO PRINCETON, 1775-1777 (THE REVOLUTION TRILOGY #1) - GLOSSARY ~ (Spoiler Thread)	130	299	Aug 29, 2020 01:59PM
The History Book ...: * WE ARE OPEN - SPOTLIGHTED BOOK - THE BRITISH ARE COMING: THE WAR FOR AMERICA, LEXINGTON TO PRINCETON, 1775-1777 (THE REVOLUTION TRILOGY #1) - Week Twelve - July 27th - August 2nd, 2020 - BOOK AS A WHOLE AND FINAL THOUGHTS (Spoiler Thread)	11	80	Aug 07, 2020 02:34PM
The History Book ...: * WE ARE OPEN - SPOTLIGHTED BOOK - THE BRITISH ARE COMING: THE WAR FOR AMERICA, LEXINGTON TO PRINCETON, 1775-1777 (THE REVOLUTION TRILOGY #1) - Week Six - June 15th - June 21st, 2020 - Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen (pages 297 - 347) Non Spoiler Thread	41	30	Jul 27, 2020 09:55PM
The History Book ...: * WE ARE OPEN - SPOTLIGHTED BOOK - THE BRITISH ARE COMING: THE WAR FOR AMERICA, LEXINGTON TO PRINCETON, 1775-1777 (THE REVOLUTION TRILOGY #1) - Week Seven - June 22nd - June 28th, 2020 - Chapters Fifteen and Sixteen (pages 348 - 402) Non Spoiler Thread	77	48	Jul 27, 2020 01:19AM
The History Book ...: * WE ARE OPEN - SPOTLIGHTED BOOK - THE BRITISH ARE COMING: THE WAR FOR AMERICA, LEXINGTON TO PRINCETON, 1775-1777 (THE REVOLUTION TRILOGY #1) - Week Eight - June 29th - July 5th, 2020 - Chapters Seventeen and Eighteen (pages 403 - 464) Non Spoiler Thread	23	31	Jul 16, 2020 12:45AM
The History Book ...: * WE ARE OPEN - SPOTLIGHTED BOOK - THE BRITISH ARE COMING: THE WAR FOR AMERICA, LEXINGTON TO PRINCETON, 1775-1777 (THE REVOLUTION TRILOGY #1) - Week Two - May 18th - May 24th , 2020 - Chapters Two and Three (pages 55 - 115) Non Spoiler Thread	108	55	Jul 13, 2020 04:57PM

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About Rick Atkinson

Rick Atkinson

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Rick Atkinson, editor, is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and historian who worked for twenty-five years as a correspondent and editor for The Washington Post. He is the author of several books, including the acclaimed Liberation Trilogy about World War II: An Army at Dawn, which won the Pulitzer Prize for History, The Day of Battle, and The Guns at Last Light, as well as The British Are Comin ...more

Books by Rick Atkinson

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 (World War II Liberation Trilogy, #1)

The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (World War II Liberation Trilogy, #2)

The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (World War II Liberation Trilogy, #3)

The Long Gray Line: The American Journey of West Point's Class of 1966

In The Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat In Iraq

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“Thomas Paine had failed at everything he ever attempted in Britain: shopkeeping, teaching, tax collecting (twice), and marriage (also twice). For years he made whalebone corset stays in dreary provincial towns, then worked as an exciseman, chasing Dutch gin and tobacco smugglers along the English coast before being sacked for cause. Forced into bankruptcy—“Trade I do not understand,” he admitted—in desperation he sailed for Philadelphia and immediately found work editing the Pennsylvania Magazine, printing articles on Voltaire, beavers, suicide, and revolutionary politics. A gifted writer, infused with egalitarian and utopian ideals, he attacked slavery, dueling, animal cruelty, and the oppression of women. On January 10, 1776, a thousand copies of his new pamphlet on the American rebellion had been published anonymously under a simple title suggested by Dr. Benjamin Rush.” — 1 likes

“Roughly five thousand African Americans would eventually serve in the Continental Army, a more integrated national force than would exist for nearly two centuries.” — 1 likes

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