ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

At first blush it may seem redundant to add yet another book to the crowded field of Revolutionary War literature. As always, my overriding goal has been to tell a good story that makes these times more accessible to the general reader. But my secondary goals in focusing on this critical six-month period were two-fold and largely derived from perspectives more than 225 years apart.

First, I wanted to return to the original affidavits, correspondence, and remembrances of the participants and see the times and events through their lives as they lived them—before two centuries of reinterpretation clouded their words. Second, I wanted to incorporate into this fresh telling a flavor of the outpouring of academic research that has occurred during the last twenty years on frequently overlooked aspects of those days. These have included the roles of women, African Americans, Native Americans, and loyalists who were given little notice in so many earlier histories.

I appreciate the landmark studies—albeit half a century apart—of Allen French and David Hackett Fischer and am particularly grateful to those historians who commented on portions of the manuscript or offered advice: J. L. Bell, John Branson, Paul Lockhart, Nancy Rubin Stuart, and Harlow Giles Unger. David Lambert remains my go-to guy for crafting great maps, and I am once again in his debt.

I have nothing but deep thanks and high praise for the team at Little, Brown, who embarked on this project after launching The Admirals: first and foremost, my insightful editor and chief supporter, John Parsley, as well as Malin von Euler-Hogan, Carrie Neill, Michael Noon, and copyeditor Barbara Clark.

As should be clear to all after our seven books together, my greatest debt is to my stalwart friend and faithful agent, Alexander C. Hoyt. Alex has never failed to go above and beyond.

As always, I enjoyed my time walking the ground of these events with my wife, Marlene, from the streets of Boston—and a tavern or two—to Bunker Hill and on to Lexington, Concord, and Battle Road, as well as Salem, Fort Ticonderoga, Independence Hall, and Williamsburg. I never tire of experiencing firsthand the preserved vestiges of our country’s past.