Occupied America

British Military Rule and the Experience of Revolution

By: Donald F. Johnson

Narrated by: Rick Adamson

In Occupied America, Donald F. Johnson chronicles the everyday experience of ordinary people living under military occupation during the American Revolution. Focusing on day-to-day life in port cities held by the British Army, Johnson recounts how men and women from a variety of backgrounds navigated harsh conditions, mitigated threats to their families and livelihoods, took advantage of new opportunities, and balanced precariously between revolutionary and royal attempts to secure their allegiance.

Between 1775 and 1783, every large port city along the Eastern seaboard fell under British rule at one time or another. As centers of population and commerce, these cities should have been bastions from which the empire could restore order and inspire loyalty. Military rule's exceptional social atmosphere initially did provide opportunities for many people to reinvent their lives, and while these opportunities came with risks, the hope of social betterment inspired thousands to embrace military rule. Nevertheless, as Johnson demonstrates, occupation failed to bring about a restoration of imperial authority, as harsh material circumstances forced even the most loyal subjects to turn to illicit means to feed and shelter themselves, while many maintained ties to rebel camps for the same reasons.

©2020 University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. (P)2021 Tantor

very solid given the lack of sources

This book does a good job of letting the reader see what actually went on in the British occupied cities of the US. And in the epilogue, Johnson does a good job explaining why the real story was altered to fit the image that the emerging American republic wanted to be told. Since the sources that most historians used were written in the early days of the republic, these writings have been accepted without much evaluation of the points that the early writers were shaping the narrative for. Johnson does an excellent job of questioning what we think know of the occupied cities. But, as Johnson himself points out, most of the accounts of the people who suffered through the occupation have disappeared r were never written in the first place. Johnson does cite narratives written by a few blacks and women, those groups seldom had the time nor the resources to wrte a true history. This is even more the case with the poor, so what Johnson writes almost exclusively about are the activities of the rich and/or well-educated. Johnson cannot be blamed for failing to include data that does not exist, or at least data that has not been discovered yet. Johnson does a very good job with what he has, but I confess that I want more.