An Empire on the Edge

July 7, 2014
Covering the three years leading up to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1775, journalist Bunker (Making Haste from Babylon) wisely jettisons a hero/villain dichotomy in favor of a nuanced global analysis of Britain’s failure to hold onto its American colonies. Bunker opens his riveting narrative with an account of the East India Company’s maneuvers to secure tea for the thirsty British market. In 1771, the company miscalculated demand and ended up with a crippling amount of unsold stock that, with the help of the British government, it intended to unload on the 13 colonies. By 1772, the colonists, accustomed to running their own economies and local governments, pushed back at what they viewed as unwarranted intrusions into their affairs. This serious difference of opinion over the nature of the colonial relationship became crystal clear when a group of American raiders attacked a British customs schooner, the Gaspée, off the coast of Rhode Island. Relations with Britain deteriorated, culminating with the dumping of the East India Company’s tea in the Boston harbor. This was a major property crime and another direct challenge to Parliament’s authority. With a sharp eye for economic realities, Bunker persuasively demonstrates why the American Revolution had to happen. Illus.

Starred review from July 15, 2014
Bunker (Making Haste from Babylon: The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World: A New History, 2010) delivers an eye-opening study of the British view of the American Revolution and why they were crazy to fight it.England never had a solid plan for administering the American colonies, situated on a continent they couldn't understand and could never hope to rule. Their existence was purely economic, a market for English goods and an exclusive supplier of tobacco, rice, timber, fur, rum, sugar and other important exports. Those who governed for England sent few, if any, reports, and those were incomplete and/or about the coming trouble. Thomas Gage, the commander in chief of the British Army in America, was responsible for territory from Nova Scotia to the Bahamas, in addition to the western bases, from Quebec to Alabama, that Britain gained after the Seven Years' War. On the other hand, King George III's influence was limited. Things might have carried on as usual except for the 1772 banking crash and resulting recession. Speculation, greed, extortion and fraud brought the East India Company to its knees, deep in debt with a mountain of tea losing value to a worldwide smuggling trade. The author lists countless mistakes, misunderstandings and plain stupidity, all of which led to revolution. The ultimate cause of the revolt was Britain's staunch belief in the twin pillars of the British constitution: parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law in a government built on land ownership. Colonists had no rights, and only landowners could attend town meetings. Questions of taxation, religious freedom and the bailout of the East India Company were really just flash points, and the failure of British leadership to recognize the warning signs will astonish readers who thought the Revolution was just about tea.A scholarly yet page-turning, superbly written history.

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Starred review from September 1, 2014

Bunker (Making Haste from Babylon) attempts, from a British point of view, to "explain how and why the government in London permitted" the American Revolution to happen. In that respect, this book may be thought of as a pleasing companion to Andrew O'Shaughnessy's The Men Who Lost America. The author's focus is on the three years leading up to open warfare, with the Boston Tea Party of 1773 presented as a climax and an emphasis on the actions of two Britons: statesman William Legge and Prime Minister Frederick North. Reading like Benjamin Woods Labaree's The Boston Tea Party, Bunker's book argues that, for the British, America was "a continent she did not comprehend and could not hope to rule." The author is particularly attuned to economic context and concerned with how events unfolded in practice, rather than what was said in theory. He concludes by stating that the American Revolution was first and foremost "a rebellion [that] took place in the mind." VERDICT This title is recommended to historians of all kinds, professional and amateur alike, who are interested in colonial history.--Mark Spencer, Brock Univ., St. Catharines, Ontario, CA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2014
Americans tend to view their separation from Great Britain as a triumph of liberty and, of course, a cause for celebration. British historians often view American independence as the result of misunderstandings and blunders, especially on the side of successive British governments. Bunker, a historian and journalist, generally falls into the latter camp, although he also parcels out some blame to the American side. Bunker's absorbing history concentrates on the critical years between the end of the Seven Years' War, in 1763, and the outbreak of sustained and violent American resistance at Lexington and Concord, in 1775. In essence, these years saw a failure of British governments to understand both the strengths and weaknesses of their empire in North America. Bunker convincingly illustrates how little direct control Parliament exercised over this vast territory, which stretched from the Atlantic to the Mississippi after 1763. Bunker asserts that this lack of control allowed these American colonies to prosper and were also a source of wealth for Britain. Unfortunately, the failure to understand this led to British efforts to tighten imperial control, engendering an escalating cycle of resistance and repression. Bunker has provided a well-argued and plausible theory on the causes of what British politicians called the American controversy. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)