
Scars of Independence
America's Violent Birth
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Narrated by:
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Scott Brick
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By:
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Holger Hoock
A magisterial new work that rewrites the story of America's founding
The American Revolution is often portrayed as an orderly, restrained rebellion, with brave patriots defending their noble ideals against an oppressive empire. It's a stirring narrative, and one the founders did their best to encourage after the war. But as historian Holger Hoock shows in this deeply researched and elegantly written account of America’s founding, the Revolution was not only a high-minded battle over principles, but also a profoundly violent civil war—one that shaped the nation, and the British Empire, in ways we have only begun to understand.
In Scars of Independence, Hoock writes the violence back into the story of the Revolution. American Patriots persecuted and tortured Loyalists. British troops massacred enemy soldiers and raped colonial women. Prisoners were starved on disease-ridden ships and in subterranean cells. African-Americans fighting for or against independence suffered disproportionately, and Washington's army waged a genocidal campaign against the Iroquois. In vivid, authoritative prose, Hoock's new reckoning also examines the moral dilemmas posed by this all-pervasive violence, as the British found themselves torn between unlimited war and restraint toward fellow subjects, while the Patriots documented war crimes in an ingenious effort to unify the fledgling nation.
For two centuries we have whitewashed this history of the Revolution. Scars of Independence forces a more honest appraisal, revealing the inherent tensions between moral purpose and violent tendencies in America's past. In so doing, it offers a new origins story that is both relevant and necessary—an important reminder that forging a nation is rarely bloodless.
©2017 Holger Hoock (P)2017 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















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One thing that did surprise me was how inhumanely the British prosecuted the war. For 50% of American causalities to have occurred as POWs is eye opening. I got the impression that the theme of Mel Gibson’s movie “Patriot” was entirely possible given what Holger reported.
I would suggest that Holger delete his epilogue with his pontifications, that added absolute nothing to his book. If anything it was a distraction.
William Tecumseh Sherman
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we've come full circle
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The research and organization were outstanding and very completing.
The narration was superb.
I thought I knew a lot about the American Revolution.
My eyes have opened to the complexities and dynamics of this violent conflict which had huge military, political, cultural, racial, ethnic, and personal impacts.
This is one of my all-time favorites.
A Masterpiece
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Interesting, but kind of depressing
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Engaging, Unusual Perspective on The Revolution
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Excellent portrait of the Revolutionary War’s atrocities
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A rebellion where the weak side is at disadvantaged has to terror methods. Vietnam, WWII esp. in France and China. Current East West battles through out the world. Maybe if the English government was more accommodating the USA would still be part of the English Empire. A lesson a current political party should learn.
So!
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Don't bother reading. War is hell and the Revolution was war.
polemic by a leftist German historian
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a True History book
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Fresh Perspective of the War
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