George Washington's War: In Caricature and Print

Description

A Revolutionary War history told through eighteenth-century illustrations: "Utterly absorbing" (The Times, London). Americans are steeped in the history of the American Revolution, but often the fog of myth shrouds the reality. In these pages, the path to war is starkly documented by British caricatures of politicians and generals—for the most part favorable to the Colonists. For George III, Lord North, and Britain, the war was a disaster that need not have happened. The problems of coping with a country five thousand miles away with a tradition of representative government, a free press, and a spirit of independence were just too much. But they, together with Generals Howe, Burgoyne, Cornwallis, and others, were mercilessly lampooned. Washington, the hero, is spared, although there are surprising and dark elements to the American victory illustrated here. Using prints and caricatures from the period—some never before published—and drawing on his own experience in politics, Kenneth Baker provides vivid and memorable images that illustrate these extraordinary historical events.