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What They're Saying about
Forgotten Patriots
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 Fraunces Tavern Museum has just awarded Forgotten Patriots its annual award for the best book on the American Revolution published during the previous year. |
Listen to a podcast of my recent talk at the CUNY graduate center and the interview on "New Books in History"
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". . . a landmark whose significance far outweighs recent, popular biographies of the Founding Fathers. Burrows's sparkling prose, meticulous research and surprising findings recast our understanding of how the new nation was brought forth." The Washington Post
"A meticulously researched and documented work that is destined to become one of the definitive books on the American Revolution." The San Antonio Express-News
For some reflections on the book's contemporary ramifications, read the recent interview in Harper's Magazine. Some excerpts recently appeared in American Heritage and my response to the "page 99 test" has just appeared on the blog of the Campaign for the American Reader. |
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| "Forgotten Patriots is a breakthrough book in the historiography of the American Revolution. For the first time an historian has told the appalling story of the British treatment of American prisoners--and explained why and how too many Americans have tried to discount or forget this crime against humanity." Thomas Fleming |
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| "In this tour-de-force of relentless research, keen interpretation, and elegant prose, Burrows has given us an engrossing, dramatic narrative that is also the definitive account of a monumental tragedy unknown to most Americans." Barnet Schecter |
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| "An astonishing story of suffering and mortality that rivals Andersonville in scale and casts a very disturbing light on British attitudes toward Americans. It powerfully examines the universal human capacity for inhumanity. On a lighter note: you're gonna love Ethan Allen! Highest recommendation." Northshire Bookstore Reviews |
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| "With verve, clarity, and precision, this brilliant book tells the complicated stroy of possibly 18,000 Americans who died as POWs during the Revolution. . . . [T]ruly remarkable research . . . . Historically strong and powerful . . . . Choice |
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| "Burrows (Distinguished Professor of History, Brooklyn Coll.), who shared the Pulitzer Prize with coauthor Mike Wallace for Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, here focuses on a neglected aspect of the American Revolution, the prisoners of war held by the British during the conflict. He examines diaries, correspondence, memoirs, newspapers, and pension and government records, from which he includes prisoner testimony that past historians have dismissed as American propaganda. Although establishing the exact numbers of prisoners and deaths is impossible, because records are not available, Burrows finds some startling figures by cross-referencing multiple documents for consistencies. He concludes that there were probably over 30,000 captives (twice the number previously believed) and about 18,000 deaths. The majority of the prisoners were held in New York City in cramped buildings and on prison ships, and many were robbed, beaten, and starved by their British captors, who saw the Americans as rebels, beneath any honor or respect. Both George Washington and Congress knew about these horrendous conditions, but they were limited to arranging prisoner trades and getting food and clothing to the Americans, although they tried daring amphibious raids to rescue prisoners. Although Burrows does not himself suggest overt parallels to current history, readers can draw the connection, which makes for another powerful element to this very interesting and well-written book. Highly recommended." Library Journal |
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| "A moving tribute to the martyrs of the prison ships and a cautionary tale for a country, itself now wealthy and powerful, 'at risk of becoming the kind of enemy they laid down their lives to defeat.'" Kirkus Reviews |
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| "In Forgotten Patriots, Edwin Burrows has unearthed a trove of buried history, in some cases literally. This vivid and compelling study shows that the P.O.W. is hardly a new phenomenon, but goes back to our origins as a nation." Ted Widmer |
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