Americans revere their revolutionary War of Independence from 1776-1783. The foundation of this great nation is peopled with many incredibly brave heroes. The British view of this unmitigated disaster is that Americans were very lucky since they could not have won alone and only the intervention of France, Britain's oldest enemy, allowed a colonial rebellion to succeed. In the 1770s, London had a flourishing print trade and many of these prints in this book are overwhelmingly in favour of America. In contrast, the art of engraving had barely reached America. Kenneth Baker has used contemporary material, not the romantic patriotic pictures of the 19th century and drawn upon his own experiences of high politics and his personal collection of caricatures as well as the libraries and historical societies of the East Coast to present this superb collection of images, many never before published. Here is a British officer paying American Indians to scalp the enemy, the Battle of Lexington 1775, a contemporary engraving by Ralph Earl depicting a battle where the men 'were so wild they could hear no orders', The Battle of Princeton 1777, the death of General Sir Simon Fraser, the surrender at Saratoga, the murder of Jane McCrea, viscously lampooning caricatures and engravings by the likes of John Kay, here are representatives of all the major figures like General Johnnie Burgoyne, Lord Cornwallis, Lord Amherst, a British print of Benedict Arnold after his defection in 1780, General Charles Lee ('a sarcastic genius' according to Tom Paine), Horatio Gates, Nathanael Greene the pot bellied Warley hero, the fugitive war in the South after the capture of New York and the fall of Montreal in 1776. Each chapter takes us through the characters and main battles and events in a very visual and highly entertaining and informative style. 224pp, 9½" x 12".