The Politics of War: Race, Class, and Conflict in Revolutionary Virginia (Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia)
"Students of the militia's history in America will find this study of great interest."--Journal of America's Military Past"Explores in some depth the tension between the elite and allegedly 'plebian' citizens during the Revolutionary War."--Choice"[An] extensively researched, clearly written analysis. . . . Offers a blueprint for how historians should examine the attempts by various groups of Americans to acquire liberty and independence in the second half of the eighteenth century."--Common-place"Successfully draws from a specific issue conclusions about the nature of the War of Independence and how political conflicts stirred up by the war lingered after the fighting ended. . . . A valuable addition to American Revolutionary War historiography. . . . McDonnell joins a growing list of historians whose analyses of early American societies at war tell us much about class, race, and conceptions of liberty in the American Revolution."--Journal of Military History"The fullest account yet of the struggles among Virginians over the Revolution. . . . McDonnell offers a new and intriguing perspective on this major issue."--Virginia Magazine of History and Biography"McDonnell's impressive book very powerfully sweeps away old myths and presents a powerful case of a Virginia riven by class and social divisions during the Revolutionary War and moving into the postwar era with a greater sense of trepidation than triumph. . . . A model of historical scholarship--a work deeply researched, clearly written, and effectively argued, that adds significantly to our picture of Virginia during the Revolution."--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society"Provides new insights into Virginia society and its response to wartime mobilization. For scholars of the American Revolution and graduate students, this work provides a wealth of information on Revolutionary Virginia and sets a high standard in historical research."--North Carolina Historical Review"Specialists will appreciate McDonnell's mastery of the historiography of Virginia. But they and others will also recognise and applaud his determination to recall from the pastindividual peopleforced to cope with the experience of war. . . . Wonderfully told."--Australian Book Review"Required reading for students of the American Revolution."--The Historian"One of the strongest demonstrations yet of the inseparability of the social from the political questions of the Revolutionary era. . . . Captures the texture and the ironies of the home front in what might best be called the first civil war."--Journal of Southern History"Demands careful reading by all who write or care about eighteenth-century Virginia."--The Journal of American History"There is much that is fresh and valuable in this book."---American Historical Review"A big book in every sense of the word. . . . Contribute[s] greatly to the social history of the Revolutionary War. . . . Our sense of what the Revolution was and was not is considerably better now than it was before McDonnell's substantial achievement."--William and Mary Quarterly"One of the more important recent additions to American colonial and Revolutionary historiography."--Journal of the Early Republic"McDonnell's impressive research allows him to give a fully rounded story of the multifaceted conflict within Virginia."--Journal of Interdisciplinary History"[An] impressive work. . . . An extremely detailed picture of Virginia at war. . . . [A] deeply researched and radical new take on the War for Independence and the creation of the American Revolution."--Journal of American Studies