theresa

An Epic Chase in the Turbulent Opening Days of the American Revolution!The year is 1775: Britain's North American colonies have risen in revolt against King George and Parliament. In the wake of Lexington and Concord, George Washington commands a ragtag militia army besieging British occupied Boston. At Philadelphia, the Continental Congress is debating the future course of the colonies: Negotiated reconciliation or independence? Meanwhile, in Virginia, Royal Governor Lord Dunmore has fled Williamsburg but has assembled a strong force of loyalist troops fighting to reestablish his authority...

The seventeenth century was a revolutionary age for the English. It started as they suddenly found themselves ruled by a Scotsman, and it ended in the shadow of an invasion by the Dutch. Under James I, England suffered terrorism and witch panics. Under his son Charles, state and society collapsed into civil war, to be followed by an army coup and regicide. For a short time—for the only time in history—England was a republic. There were bitter struggles over faith and Parliament asserted itself like never before. There were no boundaries to politics.

In this grand and thrilling narrative, the acclaimed biographer of Magellan, Columbus, and Marco Polo brings alive the singular life and adventures of Sir Francis Drake, the pirate/explorer/admiral whose mastery of the seas during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I changed the course of history.

In 1765, as the Stamp Act riled eastern seaports, frontiersmen clashed with the British Empire over another issue: Indian relations. When British officials launched a diplomatic expedition into the American interior to open trade with the Indian warrior Pontiac, the Black Boys formed to stop it and led an uprising that threatened the future of Britain's empire. Clashing with traders, diplomats, Native warriors, and imperious British officials, the Black Boys evolved into an organized political movement that resisted the Crown years before the Declaration of Independence.

The American Revolution has no end in sight. Slavery has plagued the Southern colonies as long as anyone can remember. The British have opened a second front in the south. Southern society is fragmented as rebels strive to throw off British tyranny while loyalists fight to remain under English rule. Neighbor turns against neighbor. Families are torn apart.