- Published: 19 February 2015
- ISBN: 9781448156993
- Imprint: Vintage Digital
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 448
An Empire On The Edge
How Britain Came To Fight America
- Published: 19 February 2015
- ISBN: 9781448156993
- Imprint: Vintage Digital
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 448
Nick Bunker dazzles the reader with a deeply researched and clear-eyed accounting of the dissolution of the mighty—but woefully overextended—British Empire. Bunker's mellifluous prose fairly jumps off the page, drawing the reader deeper and deeper into this intricate and fascinating tale
William D. Cohan
A scholarly yet page-turning, superbly written history.
Kirkus
Utterly absorbing and full of colour, we learn afresh what a mess Britain made of leaving America and, crucially and importantly, how that mess shaped the American psyche
Justin Webb, BBC
A nuanced global analysis of Britain’s failure to hold onto its American colonies… Riveting… With a sharp eye for economic realities, Bunker persuasively demonstrates why the American Revolution had to happen
Publishers Weekly
Bunker’s tightly argued and deeply researched book shows how a broader perspective can shed new light on even the most familiar events
Foreign Affairs
Highly readable account of the American Revolutionary crisis… A bracing gallop through the three years leading up to the "shot heard round the world" at Lexington, Mass., in April 1775 and an especially lucid portrait of the woes of the East India Co. A broad and telling portrait of the empire at a remarkable moment in its history
Wall Street Journal
An insightful and aptly acerbic account of the lead-up to the unnecessary loss of America … The book is especially good on the commercial imperatives that draw both sides to desperation: on the private greed and the arbitrary interferences that persuaded reasonable men to risk their lives
Geoffrey Robertson, QC
Bunker’s narrative is human and even-handed; and from the Boston harbourside to the salons of London, a complex and epic tale is told with colour and enthusiasm. It should even go down well in Boston
Sinclair McKay, 4 stars, Sunday Telegraph
Bunker relates the complex story of the Boston Tea Party with zest and almost intimidating thoroughness
David Goodall, Tablet
This is a compelling read that explains British decision-making with skill and insight. Highly recommended
Andrew Lambert, BBC History Magazine
Shows how a lethal blend of politics and personalities led to the American Revolution
Choice Magazine
Bunker has done a wonderful job describing the tragedy of errors that led to a bitter and costly war
Good Book Guide
A distinguished and refreshing contribution to the secondary literature on the American Revolution
Andrew J O’Shaughnessy, Literary Review
This wonderfully written book invites reflection on how a failure of political imagination so often makes war in distant places seem inevitable
T. H. Breen, The Times Literary Supplement
[It is] brilliantly written and meticulously researched.
Simon Shaw, Mail on Sunday
A vigorous book, full of energy as well as insight
Jeremy Black
A vigorous book, full of energy as well as insight
Jeremy Black