Synopses & Reviews
In this unique history of 1776, Claudio Saunt looks beyond the familiar story of the thirteen colonies to explore the many other revolutions roiling the turbulent American continent. In that fateful year, the Spanish landed in San Francisco, the Russians pushed into Alaska to hunt valuable sea otters, and the Sioux discovered the Black Hills. Hailed by critics for challenging our conventional view of the birth of America, "[coaxes] our vision away from the Atlantic seaboard" and "exposes a continent seething with peoples and purposes beyond Minutemen and Redcoats" ().
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"An engaging, original, and thought-provoking book on what was happening on the American continent in 1776 outside of our traditional line of sight. The result is a fascinating new look at the most familiar of years." Jacob E. Osterhout Newsweek
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"A dramatic and compelling new take on the North America of 1776. With careful research and in evocative writing, Saunt brilliantly recovers the cultural diversity and many possibilities of a continent dominated by native peoples and coveted by several empires." Jon Meacham, author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
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"Move over, Minutemen: teeming with Sioux hunters, Creek farmers, Aleutian traders, Russian trappers, and Spanish missionaries, portrays America in 1776 as we've never seen it before. . . . A revelation." Maya Jasanoff, author of Liberty's Exiles
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"Revelatory." Pekka Hamalainen, author of The Comanche Empire
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"No one who reads it will think of 1776 the same way again." Publishers Weekly
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"Highly recommended as a balancing tonic to more conventional Revolutionary books." Bethanne Patrick
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"[A] panoramic view of North America... rife with fascinating facts." Michael Upchurch Seattle Times
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"[B]old and inclusive... a significant contribution to our understanding of this volatile and formative period in American history." Wall Street Journal
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"[A]s compelling and awful as a ghost story... [A] masterful portrait." Doug Kiel Chicago Tribune
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"A history more terrible than wondrous, a necessary counternarrative to our enlightened Revolution... Saunt stretches the scope of his history to provide context and background... He has created a sweeping narrative of noncolonial America in 1776. But he is at his most colorful when he finds individual stories, such as that of the Frenchman floating down the Arkansas River with 'one severed head and the corpses of two of his companions.'" Kate Tuttle Boston Globe
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"Informative... Saunt does a brilliant job." Carolyn Kellogg Los Angeles Times
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"Perceptive and original." Michael Upchurch Seattle Times
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"Illuminating... readers will walk away from with an entirely necessary set of characters to fold into the narrative of 1776.... In a global age, this kind of history could not be more welcome." Gerard Helferich Wall Street Journal
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"Perceptive and original." Gerard Helferich
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"Brilliant." Carolyn Kellogg Los Angeles Times
Synopsis
This panoramic account of 1776 chronicles the other revolutions unfolding that year across North America, far beyond the British colonies.
Synopsis
In 1776, Thomas Paine published , the Continental Congress declared independence, and Washington crossed the Delaware. We are familiar with these famous moments in American history, but we know little about the extraordinary events occurring that same year far beyond the British colonies. In this distinctive history, Claudio Saunt tells an intriguing, largely untold story of an immense and restless continent connected in surprising ways.
About the Author
Claudio Saunt is the Richard B. Russell Professor in American History at the University of Georgia. He is the author of award-winning books, including A New Order of Things and Black, White, and Indian and West of the Revolution. He lives in Athens, Georgia.