The Persistence of Empire - (Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American Histo) by Eliga H Gould (Paperback)

About the Book

Persistence of Empire: British Political Culture in the Age of the American Revolution

Book Synopsis

The American Revolution was the longest colonial war in modern British history and Britain's most humiliating defeat as an imperial power. In this lively, concise book, Eliga Gould examines an important yet surprisingly understudied aspect of the conflict: the British public's predominantly loyal response to its government's actions in North America.

Gould attributes British support for George III's American policies to a combination of factors, including growing isolationism in regard to the European continent and a burgeoning sense of the colonies as integral parts of a greater British nation. Most important, he argues, the British public accepted such ill-conceived projects as the Stamp Act because theirs was a sedentary, "armchair" patriotism based on paying others to fight their battles for them. This system of military finance made Parliament's attempt to tax the American colonists look unexceptional to most Britons and left the metropolitan public free to embrace imperial projects of all sorts -- including those that ultimately drove the colonists to rebel.

Drawing on nearly one thousand political pamphlets as well as on broadsides, private memoirs, and popular cartoons, Gould offers revealing insights into eighteenth-century British political culture and a refreshing account of what the Revolution meant to people on both sides of the Atlantic.

Review Quotes

ÝA¨ nicely written and articulate study.

"Historian"

A well-researched, closely argued account of the impact of the American Revolution on British political culture.

"International History Review"

This is a thought-provoking book, its argument consistently developed in sophisticated and engaging terms and presented with lucidity and grace.

"Reviews in American History"

"A well-researched, closely argued account of the impact of the American Revolution on British political culture.

"International History Review""

"This is a thought-provoking book, its argument consistently developed in sophisticated and engaging terms and presented with lucidity and grace.

"Reviews in American History""

[A] nicely written and articulate study.

"Historian"

An impressively well-documented analysis of the empire from an English perspective.

"William and Mary Quarterly"

Gould has made a substantial contribution not only to imperial and Atlantic histories but also to the study of Britishness.

"Journal of American History"