We think of the Revolutionary War as brave patriots fighting for a noble cause, which is true. But as the historian Holger Hoock reminds us, it was also a bloody and brutal conflict, and its outcome was shaped by its cruelty.
Wednesday, we’re taking a different look at the American Revolutionary War. We think of it as brave patriots fighting for a noble cause, which is true, but in his new book historian Holger Hoock is trying to remind us just how bloody it was. The British brutalized American soldiers; we tortured loyalists. In fact, this cruelty shaped the outcome of the war. Hoock’s book is called Scars of Independence: America’s Violent Birth. (Rebroadcast)
Holger Hoock is Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and J. Carroll Amundson Chair of British History at the University of Pittsburgh. His books include Empires of the Imagination and The King's Artists. His new book is Scars of Independence: America’s Violent Birth [Indie bookstores|Amazon|Audible]