THE GREAT SEPARATION

by Donald Barr Chidsey ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 25, 1965

This volume defines the events leading up to our Revolution and continues the author's roots-of-America series. Chidsey attacks his frayed subject with such freshness, zest and humor that readers will laugh and cheer the Whigs while the Tories stew in their royalty. He baits Britons, while colonists are often perfervid bumpkins. Patrick Henry, for instance, is a glib hillbilly who can write words of fire, while King George is a gullible dunce. Like a cagey scenarist, the author starts with his big scene, the Boston Tea Party, then goes into flashbacks to show its cause. When King George insists on the Stamp Act for taxing the colonists, the Boston Sons of Liberty turn out like Harlem rioters set for Freedom Now. They smash homes, hang effigies, build bonfires. So the Stamp Act is repealed. But a new Cabinet appears in Britain, with Champagne Charlie Townshend as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and new duties are imposed on the colonists' imports. When the East India Company's tea is foisted upon them by legalized monopoly, the colonists stand up for the cheaper Dutch brand. ...Anglophiles will not be amused, but these pages have a lively skip.

Pub Date: May 25, 1965

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1965

Categories: NONFICTION