Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution

Declaring that the American Revolution was fought in the name of empire almost seems blasphemous. However, DuVal (history, Univ. of Carolina, Chapel Hill; The Native Ground) excellently details how the event was actually a war for empire along the Gulf Coast of the United States. The author addresses how French, Spanish, British, and American forces contested the region for economic and military dominance between the 1760s and 1790s, noting how traders, Native Americans, and even slaves were shaped by this contest of empires. By describing these lives and how the revolution affected them, DuVal accurately theorizes that independence was lost by many, and that the idea of "empire" was often a place of security and affluence. This book adds to the literature of the period, fitting nicely with Colin G. Calloway's The American Revolution in Indian Country, Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy's An Empire Divided, and Claudio Saunt's West of the Revolution.