Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I had just finished Patriot Pirates and was completely disappointed in it so it was with a bit of trepidation that I began this book. The title smacked of bad marketing but to my pleasant surprise the content was fantastic.
The story of the Siege of Boston has been told many times but never from the naval perspective. The author makes an interesting read and a compelling case out of Gen. Washington's slow embrace of sea power as a lever against the British. The existence of both Washington's small fleet of essentially privateers and Congress's eventual authorization of an actual navy was a surprise to me. Though I have read a few naval histories I had never come across this fact. He consistently refers back to his thesis of the fleet's impact on the siege by giving a fair assesment of the actual vs. psychological impact of the naval action. He pays mind to the benefits to the Continental Army and the detriment to the British of the seized material. The author blends the large scale operation of ousting the British from Boston with the small scale dramas of fitting out ships and several of there engagements. Good attention is paid to the characters other than the name brands guys (Washington, Knox, Greene, etc) whom you can read about else(every)where.
I think both enjoyable to the novice reader as well as someone with a good level of knowledge of the era or naval history. I would recommend that if you are not familiar with ships of the age you have a handy guide to naval terminology as it is used quite freely without a glossary. Probably will not distract from your enjoyment but you may not get as much from the reading.
I am looking forward to his prior book Benedict Arnold's Navy. Now if someone could just write a history of the occupation of Boston, and not just the highlights and the siege, I'd be really happy.
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