Description
Book Synopsis"O'Shaughnessy's excellent, clearly written book is an important contribution to Caribbean and US history. He successfully explains why the Caribbean colonists, far from supporting the American Revolution, preferred to keep the British empire intact... Highly recommended."-Choice
Trade Review"The best word on a subject basic to American and Caribbean history." *
Kirkus Reviews *
"O'Shaughnessy demonstrates in compelling detail and strong narrative why understanding the West Indies during the American Revolution is important to understanding the Revolution itself." * Edward Countryman, Southern Methodist University *
"Immensely significant." * John J. McCusker, Trinity University *
"This book will enrich debates not only about white society in the West Indies or about the scope of the American Revolution but also about the nature of the British Atlantic world of the eighteenth century." * Peter J. Marshall, King's College, London *
"A well-organized, thought-provoking, masterly narrative history." *
Military Review *
"Succeeds admirably in restoring the British West Indies to its central place within the war that divided an empire." *
Georgia Historical Quarterly *
"O'Shaughnessy's fine book is to be recommended to all who are interested in the American Revolution and in the political contours of the British Atlantic empire." *
American Studies *
"O'Shaughnessy's excellent, clearly written book is an important contribution to Caribbean and U.S. history. He successfully explains why the Caribbean colonists, far from supporting the American Revolution, preferred to keep the British empire intact. . . . Highly recommended." *
Choice *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Preface
Maps: The Greater Antilles
Maps: The Lesser Antilles
PT. I. FOUNDATIONS OF LOYALTY
1. British Sojourners
2. Black Majorities
3. The Sugar Islands
PT. II. DIVERGENT PATHS
4. Sons of Liberty?
5. Winning the Initiative
PT. III. THE IMPERIAL CIVIL WAR
6. The Crisis of American Independence
7. The Groans of the Plantations
8. Rule Britannia
PT. IV. THE DIVISION OF BRITISH AMERICA
9. The Other Road to Yorktown
Conclusion: Revolutionary Legacy
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
