A convincing argument that the 13 colonies were part of a vast imperial system—but not the most important part.
Their revolution preoccupies Americans but was only one of many problems facing Britain, says this history.
O’Shaughnessy is professor of history at the University of Virginia; Burnard was professor of slavery and emancipation at the University of Hull, England. In their insightful history, they point out that Britain possessed more than twice as many Atlantic colonies as the 13 that would become the United States. Focusing on world affairs, they view the American Revolution as an imperial event during a clash of imperial powers after which the independent United States embraced British-style imperialism, racing west to conquer their own empire at the expense of Spain, Mexico, and Indigenous people. Unlike traditional U.S.-centric accounts, the book maintains that the 1756-1763 Seven Years’ War dominated the century. Britain won a smashing victory over rival powers (mostly France, Spain, and Austria), acquiring Canada, many West Indian islands, and dominance in India, but it was crushingly expensive. Ironically, the losers’ primitive bureaucracy enabled them to repudiate debts, but Britain’s advanced banking system permitted no such option. The authors describe Britain’s efforts to govern and defend a burgeoning empire while paying off the cost of acquiring it. Irish and West Indian gentry relied on Britain’s army for protection against their tenants and enslaved people and willingly paid more taxes. India’s wealth, till then enriching the private East India Company, was reclaimed for the empire. American colonists, having driven most Indigenous tribes beyond the Appalachians, felt little threat, detested British soldiers, and believed that their unpaid militia was all they needed. The authors remind readers that when France and Spain declared war after 1778, Britain withdrew much of its army from the colonies to fend off its major rivals, which it accomplished so successfully that the loss of the colonies turned out to be a temporary glitch in an expanding empire that did not peak until the following century.
A convincing argument that the 13 colonies were part of a vast imperial system—but not the most important part.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9780300280180
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.
An insider’s chronicle of a pivotal presidential campaign.
Several months into the mounting political upheaval of Donald Trump’s second term and following a wave of bestselling political exposés, most notably Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Original Sin on Joe Biden’s health and late decision to step down, former Vice President Harris offers her own account of the consequential months surrounding Biden’s withdrawal and her swift campaign for the presidency. Structured as brief chapters with countdown headers from 107 days to Election Day, the book recounts the campaign’s daily rigors: vetting a running mate, navigating back-to-back rallies, preparing for the convention and the debate with Trump, and deflecting obstacles in the form of both Trump’s camp and Biden’s faltering team. Harris aims to set the record straight on issues that have remained hotly debated. While acknowledging Biden’s advancing decline, she also highlights his foreign-policy steadiness: “His years of experience in foreign policy clearly showed….He was always focused, always commander in chief in that room.” More blame is placed on his inner circle, especially Jill Biden, whom Harris faults for pushing him beyond his limits—“the people who knew him best, should have realized that any campaign was a bridge too far.” Throughout, she highlights her own qualifications and dismisses suggestions that an open contest might have better served the party: “If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them.” Facing Trump’s increasingly unhinged behavior, Harris never openly doubts her ability to confront him. Yet she doesn’t fully persuade the reader that she had the capacity to counter his dominance, suggesting instead that her defeat stemmed from a lack of time—a theme underscored by the urgency of the book’s title. If not entirely sanguine about the future, she maintains a clear-eyed view of the damage already done: “Perhaps so much damage that we will have to re-create our government…something leaner, swifter, and much more efficient.”
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781668211656
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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