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The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789

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The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789

By: Robert Middlekauff
Narrated by: Robert Fass
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About this listen

The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.

This panoramic view of the conflict between England and America combines the political and the personal, giving the listener a vivid sense of how the colonists perceived the events of their struggle for independence, from the French and Indian War to “the shot heard round the world”, and the importance the colonists assigned to them.

Praised as “state of the art” and “the most distinguished series in American historical scholarship”, the four new volumes of the Oxford History of the United States – including The Glorious Cause – are narrated with engagingly casual warmth by Robert Fass, who previously read an earlier volume in the series, Empire of Liberty, by Gordon S. Wood.

Please note: The individual volumes of the series have not been published in historical order. The Glorious Cause is number III in The Oxford History of the United States.

©2005 Robert Middlekauff (P)2010 Audible, Inc. Americas Colonial Period Military Revolution & Founding United States American History War of 1812 War US Constitution Royalty Pirate France Boston

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The Glorious Cause narrates the way any newly independent nation can capture the right form of government and the governance it brings for the benefit of its people.

Scotland should note how David Hume and many other Scots contributed to the establishment of the USA and that it still is valid to this day, as we approach a new future of governance.

Institutionalised Hope

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"The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789" by Robert Middlekauff, read by Robert Fass is a very good audiobook. Fass narrates the book clearly.



The book covers the lead up the the revolution and why the Americans decided reluctantly to fight. It then covers the war itself and what the Americans did after the war to set up the federal government. This is all done competently and clearly.



The book doesn't cover the controversies in Britain over America in as much detail and in particular doesn't cover the important role played by Edmund Burke: see "The Great Melody" by Conor Cruise O'Brien, but that is to be expected in a book about America.



Very good. Well worth listening to.

A very thorough book on the American Revolution

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"to be sure, Washington was out of options - and he knew it"
"to be sure, Cornwallis couldn't take South Carolina alone - and he knew it"

The author has a few favourite catchphrases ("to be sure" and "and he knew it") which he uses liberally throughout and which begin to grate after a while.

That aside, this book is OK as long as you know what to expect from it. It is a fairly dull, by the numbers, academic history of the revolution. It seems very comprehensive and I did find it informative, but it isn't particularly engaging or written in an exciting way. I suppose that's what to expect from an "Oxford History". I tend to read more popular history but couldn't find any good popular history on the revolution so had to make do with this. If you want to be informed and don't mind quite a dry approach to the subject matter, this will suit, but don't expect to be 'entertained'.

To be sure, the author has a few catchphrases

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I’m a big fan of old-fashioned scholarship and erudition and this book is chock full of the kind of detail and insight that make the history real and immediate. Americans were and ever have been a fractious, belligerent and strenuous nation, but the success of their country’s experiment is clear for anyone to see. An extraordinary time in the history of both one young country and the whole world. The Enlightenment wrought into a nation, for all its flaws and with all its passions.

Superb overview of the period

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I,m a big fan of history and I was looking forward to this book, as it has good reviews. I had studied this period when at school but I didn't know it in great detail. However I couldn't get into it particular the politic. Whole passages went by and I couldn't remember what had been said, and nore did I feel the urge to rewind. Not sure why I didn't like it. There was some good analysis, and the scholarship seemed up to date, but the writing and the narration made it feel old fashioned. There are other volumes in the same series that I am interested so I hope they are better.

Diapponited

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