The First Salute

September 1, 1989
``In this brilliant slice of American Revolutionary history, Tuchman ( A Distant Mirror ; The Guns of August ) pits the 13 colonies against a rogues' gallery of British fools,'' wrote PW of this bestseller in cloth. ``Expertly weaving political and military history, Tuchman lets you feel how Washington's victory at Yorktown sent shock waves around the globe.'' Photos.

September 1, 1988
In this brilliant slice of American Revolutionary history, Tuchman ( A Distant Mirror , The Guns of August ) pits the 13 colonies against a rogues' gallery of British fools. We meet looting English admiral George Rodney who confiscated British-owned property and expelled the Jews after seizing the neutral isle of St. Eustatius, the chief West Indies depot in the transatlantic trade. British Governor Tryon of New York waged a terrorist campaign of murder, arson and plunder against Connecticut citizens in 1779, fanning the flames of rebellion. The British command was fractured by the hatred between neurotic commander-in-chief Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis, who disdained to make war on a tattered colonial militia. On the American side, the will to fight was exemplified by men like Reverend Naphtali Daggett, ex-president of Yale, a defiant old soldier on horseback. Expertly weaving political and military history, Tuchman lets you feel how Washington's victory at Yorktown sent shock-waves around the globe. Photos. 160,000 first printing; BOMC main selection.