The Long Fuse: How England Lost the American Colonies, 1760-1785

An account of the American Revolution from the British side reveals political blunders that led Britain to lose the colonies, eloquent opponents of King George's policies, and American rebellion against Britain's political state of mind as much as its army.

Retelling the saga of the American Revolution from the viewpoint of Mother England, Cook ingeniously portrays the 13 colonies' breakaway as a succession of inexorable blunders and collective missteps in London that led to an unnecessary, unwinnable war. Former political correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and the New York Herald Tribune, Cook lays the lion's share of blame at the feet of autocratic King George III, who prodded his government into war-provoking acts, refusing all suggestions of compromise. Cook's vivid, wonderfully readable narrative sheds new light on the origins of the American Revolution and is peopled with memorable characters: Anglophile diplomat/scientist Benjamin Franklin, testifying before the House of Commons in London against the oppressive Stamp Act in 1766; Isaac Barre, fierce, rough-talking, one-eyed British colonel, sympathetic to the American cause, who warned Parliament that a revolution could be brewing; amiable, indecisive British prime minister Lord North, totally unfit to wage war, who repeatedly tendered his resignation in vain; parliamentarian William Pitt, who dared to question the king's wisdom in fiery oratory. Cook provocatively concludes that with a more conciliatory policy, England might well have reached an accommodation that would have kept the American colonies in the British Empire.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A compelling historical document that recounts the saga of the American Revolution from the British point of view. Employing a host of primary British sources, including personal correspondence, private papers, military dispatches, and parliamentary speeches and debates, the author chronicles the multitude of mistakes George III made in dealing with the colonies. Despite the opposition of such political heavyweights as Edmund Burke, William Pitt, and Charles James Fox, the stubbornly autocratic monarch formulated a disastrous series of policies that eventually incited the colonists to rebel, plunging the British into a foolish, costly, and unwinnable war that would strip the empire of its premium possession. An enlightening new perspective on the American Revolution as well as a fascinating overview of the lively tenor of British political life during this critical era. A valuable addition to the literature of the American Revolution. Margaret Flanagan