Books › Documents of the American Revolution, 1770-1783
Documents of the American Revolution, 1770-1783
432 pages
An unfiltered, archival immersion into the bureaucratic heart of a crumbling empire.
What it feels like
Reading this monumental collection feels like stepping into the hushed rooms of Whitehall during the late eighteenth century. It is not a narrative history but a vast, immersive archive that lets you read over the shoulders of British officials as they grapple with a continent slipping from their control. The pace is steady and methodical, driven by the chronological march of letters, reports, and royal decrees. The prose is steeped in the formal, archaic language of imperial bureaucracy, offering a uniquely unvarnished look at the mechanics of empire. It is a treasure trove designed for the serious historian or deeply committed enthusiast who finds profound satisfaction in the raw, unfiltered materials of the past.
- Mood
- scholarly
- immersive
- serious
- historical
- Tone
- academic
- formal
- authoritative
- archival
- objective
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- the mechanics of empire · bureaucratic perspectives on rebellion · the raw material of history · colonial administration
- The writing
- A mix of eighteenth-century official correspondence, archaic bureaucratic phrasing, and crisp editorial summaries.
- The arc
- A scholarly immersion that shifts from the mundane administration of colonies to the escalating tension of an empire losing its grip.
- Who it's for
- Dedicated historians and Revolutionary War buffs who want to bypass secondary narratives and read the raw, unfiltered communications of the British Empire.
Content notes
- war and conflict
- historical racism
- colonial violence
About the book
Professor K.G. Davies spent over a decade researching through Colonial Office records relating to North America, including Canada, from 1770 to 1783, consisting of 570 manuscript volumes and bundles of records, each of them averaging 200 folios in length. He gives here a summary of every document which has survived, whether originating in Whitehall or in the colonies, arranged in chronological sequence. There are seven volumes of these Calendars summarizing 27,410 items. Documents of outstanding interest are printed in extenso, and these appear in fourteen volumes of Transcripts. Broadly a document was chosen for transcription if it describes an important event, illuminates an issue of principle, reveals something which someone wishes to keep dark, is the work of a famous person, or opens a subject which in the editor's view has been underestimated or misunderstood. Each volume is prefaced by short introductory statements by the editor.
Description from Open Library.
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