george washington spymaster by thomas b allen

Jasanoff’s work does an excellent job illuminating the refuge crisis of the 60,000 or so Americans who took flight during post-war loyalist exodus to such far-flung places throughout the British Empire as England, Jamaica, India, Sierra Leone, and Canada. Chopra explores how Loyalists who flocked to New York City and its surrounding islands seeking refuge behind British lines were bewildered by the disregard and lack of support they received by those who they believed were there to defend them. Buskirk examines how preexisting family ties and other relationships confounded relationships between the Tories and Patriots living in and around British-occupied downstate New York. Each one of these authors focus on different aspects of American loyalism. Van Buskirk’s Generous Enemies: Patriots and Loyalists in Revolutionary New York (2002), Ruma Chopra’s Unnatural Rebellion: Loyalists in New York City during the Revolution (2012) and Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World by Maya Jasanoff (2013). Among the best of these books are Judith L. In the past decade or so, however, a number of excellent scholarly and popular works has sought to correct these shortcomings.

The historiography of the Revolution, which has been overly one-sided in favor of the American patriots, has often served to perpetuate this confusion. Allen, Tories: Fighting for the King in America’s First Civil Warįor a very long time one of the most misunderstood topics of the American Revolution was the role of the American Loyalists or Tories.

George washington spymaster by thomas b allen