1775

A Good Year for Revolution

By: Kevin Phillips

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

What if the year we have long commemorated as America’s defining moment was in fact misleading? What if the real events that signaled the historic shift from colony to country took place earlier, and that the true story of our nation’s emergence reveals a more complicated - and divisive - birth process?

In this major new work, iconoclastic historian and political chronicler Kevin Phillips upends the conventional reading of the American Revolution by puncturing the myth that 1776 was the struggle’s watershed year. Mythology and omission have elevated 1776, but the most important year, rarely recognized, was 1775: the critical launching point of the war and Britain’s imperial outrage and counterattack and the year during which America’s commitment to revolution took bloody and irreversible shape.

Phillips focuses on the great battlefields and events of 1775 - Congress’ warlike economic ultimatums to king and parliament, New England’s rage militaire, the panicked concentration of British troops in militant but untenable Boston, the stunning expulsion of royal governors up and down the seaboard, and the new provincial congresses and many hundreds of local committees that quickly reconstituted local authority in Patriot hands. These onrushing events delivered a sweeping control of territory and local government to the Patriots, one that Britain was never able to overcome. Seventeen seventy-five was the year in which Patriots captured British forts and fought battles from the Canadian frontier to the Carolinas, obtained the needed gunpowder inmachinations that reached from the Baltic to West Africa and the Caribbean, and orchestrated the critical months of nation building in the backrooms of a secrecy-shrouded Congress. As Phillips writes, "The political realignment achieved amid revolution was unique - no other has come with simultaneous ballots and bullets."

Surveying the political climate, economic structures, and military preparations, as well as the roles of ethnicity, religion, and class, Phillips tackles the 18th century with the same skill and perception he has shown in analyzing contemporary politics and economics. He mines rich material as he surveys different regions and different colonies and probes how the varying agendas and expectations at the grassroots level had a huge effect on how the country shaped itself. He details often overlooked facts about the global munitions trade; about the roles of Indians, slaves, and mercenaries; and about the ideological and religious factors that played into the revolutionary fervor.

The result is a dramatic account brimming with original insights about the country we eventually became. Kevin Phillips’ 1775 revolutionizes our understanding of America’s origins.

©2012 Kevin Phillips (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Eye-opening history of the early Revolution

Although I was aware of events before 1776, I did not grasp -- until reading this book -- just how far events were already in motion. Nor did I realize how forward-thinking and powerful Samuel Adams was. I was aware of the siege of Boston, but it never really clicked that all of that was in full swing in 1775. We were truly already independent, after challenging Royal and Parliamentary authority in 1774; we just needed to make everyone realize it and embrace it. I look forward to finding a book about the Sons of Liberty and the Committees of Correspondence.

Great way to learn history

Kevin Phillips gives us great insight into the American Revolution and is well-read by Arthur Morey.

Great overview of the American revolution with a new emphasis specifically on the stage sit by activities in 1775

Phillips is a great historian. His comprehensive approach blending history religion. Geography and personalities truly gives want to feel for what led up to the outbreak in the first year of the revolution. I just wish an audio book version of the Cousins War would be released soon

wide ranging overview of American Revolution

although titled 1775 he does touch on a great number of issues and pieces of the war that spill over only years before and after. his point is Germain, without the history of 1775 there is no history in 1776 or later. great info and touches on some things I had not know, like exactly how much the Spanish helped the Americans in the war.
give it 3 stars for story as it is a bit disjointed, it does not read chronologically and jumps from point to point

An audio trip through history

What made the experience of listening to 1775 the most enjoyable?

The story held your attention and went way beyond the history I missed in school.

What did you like best about this story?

The reasearch and accuracy of the historical content was well researched and presented.

Good Material too Haphazard

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would have put things more in chronological order.

What could Kevin Phillips have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I believe he started with a wrong premise. Truly 1775 was important leading up to 1776, but so was 1774, and 1773, etc. He is trying to prove a point that isn't an issue. As a result he continually uses events from many years before 1776 and from different socialogical angles.

Any additional comments?

To me, history is always interesting in itself. However, so much of it is left up to the interpreter. When it comes to figuring out what part of 1775 was religion the main motivator, or economic factors, etc. the conclusions are solely in the hand of the story teller.

It was a fascinating thing to listen to.

It covers a wide ranging array of ideas and events concerning the events of the American Revolution. It really provides a comprehensive context for the events leading up to the Declaration of Independence in 1776. You learn about international affairs related to it, naval events, and other things of great interest to me.

A tremendous amount of information

The revolution from many perspectives. Certainly gives you a lot of information and understanding. The amount of detail seems excessive. Perhaps it is more redundant than required by the analysis from different perspectives, such as effect of religion, regional origin, economics, etc.

Well-researched but not for the dabbler.

This book is excellent for those seeking a deep understanding of the events and policies that led Americans to resort to arms in 1775. Nevertheless, the sheer volume of technical information leads me to think I would have been better advised to read the book than to listen to it.

Boring--couldn't finish it

The author wants to construct a case that 1775 was a more crucial year for the Revolution than 1776. But, as another reviewer points out, he uses examples from the 1760s onward to bolster his case. He never makes a compelling argument for the importance of this distinction.

His examination of the various motives for independence go too far into detail to hold the reader's attention. For example, when discussing the effect of religious denomination he gives an overlong, state-by-state, county-by-county, denomination-by-denomination analysis of dozens of different congregations.

I kept waiting for the groundwork to end and the interesting discussion to begin, but I had to give up 2/3 of the way through.