{"product_id":"an-empire-divided-the-american-revolution-and-the-british-caribbean-paperback-softback-9780812217322","title":"An Empire Divided; The American Revolution and the British Caribbean (Paperback \/ softback) 9780812217322","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eAn Empire Divided\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eThe American Revolution and the British Caribbean\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eAndrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780812217322\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 18 July 2000\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e376 pages, 41 illus.\u003cbr\u003e23.5 x 15.5 x 2.3 cm, 0.594 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Promises to reshape the way Americans think of the Revolution.\"-\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"The best word on a subject basic to American and Caribbean history.\"-\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"O'Shaughnessy demonstrates in compelling detail and strong narrative why understanding the West Indies during the American Revolution is important to understanding the Revolution itself.\"-Edward Countryman, Southern Methodist University\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Immensely significant.\"-John J. McCusker, Trinity University\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"This book will enrich debates not only about white society in the West Indies or about the scope of the American Revolution but also about the nature of the British Atlantic world of the eighteenth century.\"-Peter J. Marshall, King's College, London\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"A well-organized, thought-provoking, masterly narrative history.\"-\u003ci\u003eMilitary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Succeeds admirably in restoring the British West Indies to its central place within the war that divided an empire.\"-\u003ci\u003eGeorgia Historical Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"O'Shaughnessy's fine book is to be recommended to all who are interested in the American Revolution and in the political contours of the British Atlantic empire.\"-\u003ci\u003eAmerican Studies\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"O'Shaughnessy's excellent, clearly written book is an important contribution to Caribbean and U.S. history. He successfully explains why the Caribbean colonists, far from supporting the American Revolution, preferred to keep the British empire intact. . . . Highly recommended.\"-\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere were 26-not 13-British colonies in America in 1776. Of these, the six colonies in the Caribbean-Jamaica, Barbados, the Leeward Islands, Grenada and Tobago, St. Vincent; and Dominica-were among the wealthiest. These island colonies were closely related to the mainland by social ties and tightly connected by trade. In a period when most British colonists in North America lived less than 200 miles inland and the major cities were all situated along the coast, the ocean often acted as a highway between islands and mainland rather than a barrier.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe plantation system of the islands was so similar to that of the southern mainland colonies that these regions had more in common with each other, some historians argue, than either had with New England. Political developments in all the colonies moved along parallel tracks, with elected assemblies in the Caribbean, like their mainland counterparts, seeking to increase their authority at the expense of colonial executives. Yet when revolution came, the majority of the white island colonists did not side with their compatriots on the mainland.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA major contribution to the history of the American Revolution, \u003ci\u003eAn Empire Divided\u003c\/i\u003e traces a split in the politics of the mainland and island colonies after the Stamp Act Crisis of 1765-66, when the colonists on the islands chose not to emulate the resistance of the patriots on the mainland. Once war came, it was increasingly unpopular in the British Caribbean; nonetheless, the white colonists cooperated with the British in defense of their islands. O'Shaughnessy decisively refutes the widespread belief that there was broad backing among the Caribbean colonists for the American Revolution and deftly reconstructs the history of how the island colonies followed an increasingly divergent course from the former colonies to the north.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eList of Illustrations\u003cbr\u003e Preface\u003cbr\u003e Maps: The Greater Antilles\u003cbr\u003e Maps: The Lesser Antilles\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePT. I. FOUNDATIONS OF LOYALTY\u003cbr\u003e 1. British Sojourners\u003cbr\u003e 2. Black Majorities\u003cbr\u003e 3. The Sugar Islands\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePT. II. DIVERGENT PATHS\u003cbr\u003e 4. Sons of Liberty?\u003cbr\u003e 5. Winning the Initiative\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePT. III. THE IMPERIAL CIVIL WAR\u003cbr\u003e 6. The Crisis of American Independence\u003cbr\u003e 7. The Groans of the Plantations\u003cbr\u003e 8. Rule Britannia\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePT. IV. THE DIVISION OF BRITISH AMERICA\u003cbr\u003e 9. The Other Road to Yorktown\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eConclusion: Revolutionary Legacy\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eList of Abbreviations\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Select Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52520940929304,"sku":"9780812217322","price":28.26,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/an-empire-divided-the-american-revolution-and-the-british-caribbean-paperback-softback-9780812217322","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}