$19.Howe's victory over the rebels at brooklyn.

Long but pretty good historical novel. Learned what it felt like to be a loyalist or Tory during the American Revolution. Quite a different viewpoint! ( )

Read an article last year re: the best historical fiction of the Revolutionary War (link: https://allthingsliberty.com/2019/05/the-best-historical-fiction-about-the-ameri... ) and this title was often recommended. I can see why.

This historical fiction novel presents the perspective of American Loyalists as reported by the fictional Oliver Wiswell who was himself a Loyalist. Not just about the British coming over to fight, but this was considered a civil war in that Rebels and Loyalists aka Tories were against each other even if they were neighbors, etc. In fact Oliver is in love with a girl from a "rebel" family.

An extensive amount of research by the author obviously went into this — it‘s over 800 pages long so it took me a while to read this. With this research, the author allows Oliver (and the reader) to experience several aspects of incidents in the Revolutionary War: the events in Boston (where Oliver initially lives), Long Island New York, a stint in Paris, traveling to Kentucky and then to Ninety Six in North Carolina and finally settling into Canada. Most people could not have really been that well-traveled back in those days, but it serves the purpose to show several dimensions of the warring factions between Rebels and Tories. I enjoyed this wide-lens perspective nevertheless.

Published 1940 - old fashioned story telling format. I felt the female characters (of which there were only just a few) did not much more than bat their eyelashes. But a modern reader has to consider the times of when this was published, and that this is largely a male-centric novel.

This (and I believe the rest of Roberts' works also) is out of print. I was fortunate to obtain a copy (in great condition, to boot) just before a recent Wall Street Journal article called attention to this novel -- prices skyrocketed after that. ( )

This tips Kenneth Roberts onto my must-read-everything-ever-written-by-them list. Portrays the American Revolution from a loyalist perspective detailing the atrocities of that civil war committed by the rebels upon their own countrymen - labeling anyone a Tory who questioned the new patriots thus allowing them to be persecuted/imprisoned/murdered and, end-game, seizing their property - and the ineptitude of the British military hampered by class prejudices and more concern for English politics than protecting their loyal subjects and preserving the colonies. While Oliver Wiswell is a fictitious character allowing the reader to traverse across the colonies and the Atlantic to London and Paris (the French supported the rebels), Roberts, primarily an historian, paints a vivid and thorough rendition of America's founding. So satisfying to finally replace the shiny bullshit learned in school with reality. ( )

A well-written book, and well researched. Kenneth Roberts was well known in his day, and at least one movie was made form one of his books. I really enjoy "Oliver Wiswell" as it reveals the extent to which the War of Independence (American Model), was a Civil War. The amount of political hagiography that clothes the period needs corrective books like this one. Well worth a re-print. The author included a partial bibliography of his sources following the dedication page. I was surprised to discover that this was on a top ten list for 2 years after it's publication. ( )