Publisher Description

Taking into account the key events of the French and Indian War, this book shows the American Revolution's progress in glorious contemporary maps and accompanying essays relating them to the events of the time. The authors tell the stories of the maps and the cartographers whose talents have made these some of the most valuable artifacts in America's history.When war between Britain and her colonists erupted in 1775, maps provided the pictorial news about military matters. The best examples of those maps, including some from the collection of King George III, the Duke of Northumberland and the Marquis de Lafayette, are beautifully reproduced here. Others from institutional and private collections are published here for the first time.

Author Biography

Richard H. Brown is a collector of maps and views of the French and Indian War and American Revolution. He is vice chairman of the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library and serves as a councilor of the American Antiquarian Society. He is also a member of the Madison Council of the Library of Congress and the Library Committee of the New-York Historical Society. Paul E. Cohen is the coauthor of Manhattan in Maps (New York: Rizzoli, 1997; Mineola, NY: Dover, 2014), which received the New York City Book Award in 1997. He is also the author of Mapping the West (New York: Rizzoli, 2002), and the co-editor of American Cities (New York: Assouline, 2005). He is a partner in Cohen & Taliaferro LLC, New York City, dealers in rare books and antique maps.

Review

"This glorious collection-ravishingly beautiful, exquisitely curated, brilliantly annotated-is one of the most graphic and illuminating treatments of the American Revolution ever brought to press. Here is the road to revolution and the war itself, from the opening of the French and Indian War in 1755 to the surrender at Yorktown in 1781 and the Treaty of Paris two years later. Combining the virtues of an historical atlas, a luscious exhibition, and a detailed but concise history of the wars, it is a GPS to the American Revolution." -- Ric Burns, documentary filmmaker, Steeplechase Films "Revolution is a dazzling achievement that casts new light on the imperial wars of the late eighteenth century. These maps-many of them rare manuscripts, reproduced here for the first time-remind us that the battle for (and against) American independence unfolded in space as well as in time. Here the long road to revolution becomes visible as a hard-fought contest over territory as well as clash of ideals. A feast for the eye, Revolution also invites fresh thinking about the founding of the United States and Britain's American War." -- Jane Kamensky, Mary Ann Lippitt Professor of American History, Brown University "This beautiful book, with its superbly reproduced images, brings to life the decades leading to the birth of the U.S.A. The authors have given a highly skilled analysis of the background, contents and significance of the images. The readable style and brilliant use of little-known cartographical works has created a book that anyone with an interest in the interplay between maps and history should buy-and read." -- Peter Barber, head of Map Collections, the British Library

Review Quote

"This glorious collection--ravishingly beautiful, exquisitely curated, brilliantly annotated--is one of the most graphic and illuminating treatments of the American Revolution ever brought to press. Here is the road to revolution and the war itself, from the opening of the French and Indian War in 1755 to the surrender at Yorktown in 1781 and the Treaty of Paris two years later. Combining the virtues of an historical atlas, a luscious exhibition, and a detailed but concise history of the wars, it is a GPS to the American Revolution."

Details