Conquered into Liberty
Two Centuries of Battles along the Great Warpath that Made the American Way of War
Eliot A. Cohen
- Americans
- often
- think
- of
- the
- Civil
- War
- as
- the
- conflict
- that
- consolidated
- the
- United
- States,
- including
- its
- military
- values
- and
- practices.
- But
- there
- was
- another,
- earlier,
- and
- more
- protracted
- struggle
- between
- “North”
- and
- “South,”
- beginning
- in
- the
- 1600s
- and
- lasting
- for
- more
- than
- two
- centuries,
- that
- shaped
- American
- geopolitics
- and
- military
- culture.
- Here,
- Eliot
- A.
- Cohen
- explains
- how
- the
- American
- way
- of
- war
- emerged
- from
- a
- lengthy
- struggle
- with
- an
- unlikely
- enemy:
- Canada.In
- Conquered
- into
- Liberty,
- Cohen
- describes
- how
- five
- peoples—the
- British,
- French,
- Americans,
- Canadians,
- and
- Indians—fought
- over
- the
- key
- to
- the
- North
- American
- continent:
- the
- corridor
- running
- from
- Albany
- to
- Montreal
- dominated
- by
- the
- Champlain
- valley
- and
- known
- to
- Native
- Americans
- as
- the
- “Great
- Warpath.”
- He
- reveals
- how
- conflict
- along
- these
- two
- hundred
- miles
- of
- lake,
- river,
- and
- woodland
- shaped
- the
- country’s
- military
- values,
- practices,
- and
- institutions.Through
- a
- vivid
- narration
- of
- a
- series
- of
- fights—
- woodland
- skirmishes
- and
- massacres,
- bloody
- frontal
- assaults
- and
- fleet
- actions,
- rear-guard
- battles
- and
- shadowy
- covert
- actions—Cohen
- explores
- how
- a
- distinctively
- American
- approach
- to
- war
- developed
- along
- the
- Great
- Warpath.
- He
- weaves
- together
- tactics
- and
- strategy,
- battle
- narratives,
- and
- statecraft,
- introducing
- readers
- to
- such
- fascinating
- but
- little-known
- figures
- as
- Justus
- Sherwood,
- loyalist
- spy;
- Jeduthan
- Baldwin,
- self-taught
- engineer;
- and
- La
- Corne
- St.
- Luc,
- ruthless
- partisan
- leader.
- And
- he
- reintroduces
- characters
- we
- thought
- we
- knew—an
- admirable
- Benedict
- Arnold,
- a
- traitorous
- Ethan
- Allen,
- and
- a
- devious
- George
- Washington.
- A
- gripping
- read
- grounded
- in
- serious
- scholarship,
- Conquered
- into
- Liberty
- will
- enchant
- and
- inform
- readers
- for
- decades
- to come.
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