West of the Revolution

An Uncommon History of 1776

Claudio Saunt

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English

Norton
07 August 2015

History; History of the Americas; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900

In 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense, the Continental Congress declared independence, and Washington crossed the Delaware. We are familiar with these famous moments in American history, but we know little about the extraordinary events occurring that same year far beyond the British colonies. In this distinctive history, Claudio Saunt tells an intriguing, largely untold story of an immense and restless continent connected in surprising ways.

In that pivotal year, the Spanish established the first European colony in San Francisco and set off a cataclysm for the region's native residents. The Russians pushed into Alaska in search of valuable sea otters, devastating local Aleut communities. And the British extended their fur trade from Hudson Bay deep into the continent, sparking an environmental revolution that transformed America's boreal forests.

While imperial officials in distant Europe maneuvered to control lands they knew almost nothing about, America's indigenous peoples sought their own advantage. Creek Indians navigated the Caribbean to explore trade with Cuba. The Osages expanded their dominion west of the Mississippi River, overwhelming the small Spanish outposts in the area. And the Sioux advanced across the Dakotas. One traditional Sioux history states that they first seized the Black Hills, the territory they now consider their sacred homeland, in 1776.

Two nations were born that year, Saunt writes. The native one would win its final military victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn one hundred years later. From the Aleutian Islands to the Gulf Coast and across the oceans to Europe's imperial capitals, Saunt's masterfully researched narrative reveals an interconnected web of history that spans not just the forgotten parts of North America but the entire globe.

Richly illustrated, with maps that reenvision a familiar landscape, West of the Revolution explores a turbulent continent in a year of many revolutions.

By: Claudio Saunt
Imprint: Norton
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 211mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 230g
ISBN: 9780393351156
ISBN 10: 0393351157
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 07 August 2015
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Claudio Saunt is the Richard B. Russell Professor in American History at the University of Georgia. He is the author of award-winning books, including A New Order of Things and Black, White, and Indian and West of the Revolution. He lives in Athens, Georgia.

Reviews for West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776

An engaging, original, and thought-provoking book on what was happening on the American continent in 1776 outside of our traditional line of sight. The result is a fascinating new look at the most familiar of years. -- Jon Meacham, author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power A dramatic and compelling new take on the North America of 1776. With careful research and in evocative writing, Saunt brilliantly recovers the cultural diversity and many possibilities of a continent dominated by native peoples and coveted by several empires. -- Alan Taylor, author of The Internal Enemy (National Book Award Finalist) Move over, Minutemen: teeming with Sioux hunters, Creek farmers, Aleutian traders, Russian trappers, and Spanish missionaries, West of the Revolution portrays America in 1776 as we've never seen it before... A revelation. -- Maya Jasanoff, author of Liberty's Exiles Revelatory. -- Pekka Hamalainen, author of The Comanche Empire No one who reads it will think of 1776 the same way again. Highly recommended as a balancing tonic to more conventional Revolutionary books. -- Bethanne Patrick [A] panoramic view of North America... rife with fascinating facts. -- Jacob E. Osterhout [B]old and inclusive... a significant contribution to our understanding of this volatile and formative period in American history. -- Doug Kiel [A]s compelling and awful as a ghost story... [A] masterful portrait. -- Kate Tuttle A history more terrible than wondrous, a necessary counternarrative to our enlightened Revolution... Saunt stretches the scope of his history to provide context and background... He has created a sweeping narrative of noncolonial America in 1776. But he is at his most colorful when he finds individual stories, such as that of the Frenchman floating down the Arkansas River with 'one severed head and the corpses of two of his companions.' -- Carolyn Kellogg Informative... Saunt does a brilliant job. -- Michael Upchurch Perceptive and original. -- Gerard Helferich Illuminating... readers will walk away from West of the Revolution with an entirely necessary set of characters to fold into the narrative of 1776... In a global age, this kind of history could not be more welcome. -- Ed Herschthal