
Winning Independence
The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778-1781
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Narrated by:
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Rhett Samuel Price
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By:
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John Ferling
Bloomsbury presents Winning Independence by John Ferling, read by Rhett Samuel Price.
Co-Winner of the 2022 Harry M. Ward Book Prize
From celebrated historian John Ferling, the underexplored history of the second half of the Revolutionary War, when, after years of fighting, American independence often seemed beyond reach.
It was 1778, and the recent American victory at Saratoga had netted the U.S a powerful ally in France. Many, including General George Washington, presumed France’s entrance into the war meant independence was just around the corner.
Meanwhile, having lost an entire army at Saratoga, Great Britain pivoted to a “southern strategy.” The army would henceforth seek to regain its southern colonies, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, a highly profitable segment of its pre-war American empire. Deep into 1780 Britain’s new approach seemed headed for success as the U.S. economy collapsed and morale on the home front waned. By early 1781, Washington, and others, feared that France would drop out of the war if the Allies failed to score a decisive victory that year. Sir Henry Clinton, commander of Britain’s army, thought “the rebellion is near its end.” Washington, who had been so optimistic in 1778, despaired: “I have almost ceased to hope.”
Winning Independence is the dramatic story of how and why Great Britain—so close to regaining several southern colonies and rendering the postwar United States a fatally weak nation ultimately failed to win the war. The book explores the choices and decisions made by Clinton and Washington, and others, that ultimately led the French and American allies to clinch the pivotal victory at Yorktown that at long last secured American independence.
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Superb
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Narrator was perfectly fine
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Rhett Samuel Price made the book difficult to listen to because of his constant and frequent mispronunciations. Apart from the partially excusable problems with French names, he often mispronounced common English words (e.g., “sow” for “sew”). I found my listening was distracted by such mispronunciations. I am amazed that the producers of this book’s narration let it become public.
Informative Book—Terrible Narrator
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Good story, strange pronunciation issues
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Unlistenable
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Embarrassing Narrator
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Less focus on battles, though still adaquate, leaving room for some excellent coverage of broader forces driving the Generals.
Ferling is skeptical of attempts by some to demonize or canonize favorite actors on both sides. He tries instead to “humanize” them through many primary and contemporary sources which paint a more accurate and complete vita. He is very mindful of the historic, social and economic context driving decisions which I much appreciated.
I share the author’s disregard for psychoanalysis applied to History. It is ludicrous to suggest a diagnoses for an individual never interviewed and evaluated, who lived in a forgone era. Very unprofessional and too common on the bookshelves.
Enlightening.
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Please get a pronunciation guide
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I had 2 main issues with his writing: firstly, inaccuracies. Ferling will sometimes describe an event that completely contradicts multiple other historians, and at (at least) one point he even contradicts himself. in his narration of the Battle of Stony Point, he claims 200 men were in the vanguard, that the vanguard suffered "over 50% casualties", and that the Americans suffered "under 100 casualties" overall. This ridiculous inacuraccy could've been easily remedied with one proofread, and Ferling's failure to notice it suggests this book was, frankly, half-a$$ed.
He also has an inexplicable aversion to specifying dates for key events. You'll rarely get more than a vague description of when something happened.
The narrator would be pretty good were it not for the laughable mispronounciations others have mentioned.
decent survey with some glaring issues
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Conflicted verdict
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