THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

We all know that our perspective of a particular situation quite often changes over the years. That's one reason Bullis Room volunteers enjoy the books in this collection--they give us different perspectives on the past.

Author John Fiske's THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE (copyright, 1889) looks back on this war over a hundred years later and allows us to form our own perspective from his perspective. Neat,hunh?

Fiske states in his preface: "When I was as boy I should have been glad to get hold of a brief account of the War for Independence that would have suggested answers to some of the questions that used to vex me." Then he lists the questions, which he answers in his book.

1. Was the conduct of the British government, in driving the Americans into rebellion, merely wanton aggression, or was it not rather a bungling attempt to solve a political problem which really needed to be solved?

2. Why were New Jersey and the Hudson river so important?

3. Why did the British armies make South Carolina their chief objective point after New York?

4. How did Cornwallis happen to be at Yorktown when Washington made such a long leap and pounced upon him there?

Fiske states that old-fashioned textbooks not only did not try to answer these questons, they did not even recognize their existence. Therefore he offers to boys and girls "this little book, not as a rival but as an aid to the ordinary textbook."

Chapter titles include The Colonies in 1750, The Stamp Act, The French Alliance, Birth of a Nation.


Illustrations include Paul Revere's Ride, The Boston Tea Party, Invasion of Canada, Signing of the Declaration of Independence, Burgoyne's Campaign, and Washington Crossing the Delaware. You can find it on shelf V-4.