A Few Bloody Noses

By Robert Harvey

We meant well to the Americans-just to punish them with a few bloody noses, and then to make laws for the happiness of both countries," said George III. The ensuing uprising led to the creation of the United States, the most powerful country in the modern world.

Robert Harvey, whose most recent book Liberators was brilliantly reviewed on both sides of the ocean, challenges conventional views of the American Revolution in almost every aspect-why it happened, who was winning and when, the characters of the principal protagonists, and the role of Native Americans and slaves. In a time when the history of the United States is being reconsidered-when David McCullough's John Adams and Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers top the bestseller lists-Harvey creatively studies this seminal event in the making of the United States. He takes a penetrating look at a war that was both vicious and confused, bloody and protracted, and marred on both sides by incompetence and bad faith. He underscores the effect of the Revolution on the settlers in America, and those at home in Britain-the country that the settlers had left behind, and to which many returned. The result is an extraordinarily fascinating and thoroughly readable account.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: May 22, 2002
• ISBN: 9781590209424

Reviews for A Few Bloody Noses

[setnahkt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The American Revolution, from the British point of view. (The title comes from a quote attributed to George III, "We meant well to the Americans—just to punish them with a few bloody noses, and then to make laws for the happiness of both countries.") The author is a journalist and former Member of Parliament, and the book sometimes shows it, coming off as expanded opinion piece rather than a scholarly study. Nevertheless, this is a convincing debunking of a lot of the myths and legends of the American Revolution - a couple of times I was ready to petition for an audience with the Queen, get down on my knees, and beg for forgiveness. We deserve it after coming out with The Patriot.
However, most of this is stuff we already know. It's no longer a secret that preRevolutionary America was less heavily taxed than it is today, that the Americans didn't treat blacks and natives very well, that Washington was no great shakes as a general, and that Franklin liked to flirt with the ladies. Harvey has nothing complimentary to say about any of the Founders; although he professes admiration for Washington, it's mostly damning with faint praise. Franklin is an "old rogue", Ethan Allen is a "violent hillbilly" (to be fair, I'm not sure Harvey understands just how prejudicial "hillbilly" is), and Samuel Adams is "the American Lenin" (it's not clear whether Harvey thinks comparing someone to Lenin is a compliment or not). I'm especially annoyed by the treatment of Franklin, who was the foremost scientist of the day and the closest thing to a Rennaisance Man since DiVinci; however, a lot of Americans haven't picked up on this either, thinking of him as the guy on the $100 bill if they think anything at all. I'm also annoyed the way the comparison to Vietnam is hammered on over and over again - the US did not have the same command problems in Vietnam that the British did here, and there was no adjacent country that kept funneling supplies to the American rebels, like North Vietnam did for the Viet Cong.
I found the book most valuable for its treatment of personalities on the British side; I had no idea General Burgoyne of Saratoga was a highly successful playwright. I'll have to see if any of his work is still in print.