The Politics of War

“Required reading for students of the American Revolution.” — The Historian

“One of the strongest demonstrations yet of the inseparability of the social from the political questions of the Revolutionary era. . . . Captures the texture and the ironies of the home front in what might best be called the first civil war.” — Journal of Southern History

“Demands careful reading by all who write or care about eighteenth-century Virginia.” — The Journal of American History

“There is much that is fresh and valuable in this book.” — -American Historical Review

“A big book in every sense of the word. . . . Contribute[s] greatly to the social history of the Revolutionary War. . . . Our sense of what the Revolution was and was not is considerably better now than it was before McDonnell’s substantial achievement.” — William and Mary Quarterly

“One of the more important recent additions to American colonial and Revolutionary historiography.” — Journal of the Early Republic

“McDonnell’s impressive research allows him to give a fully rounded story of the multifaceted conflict within Virginia.” — Journal of Interdisciplinary History

“[An] impressive work. . . . An extremely detailed picture of Virginia at war. . . . [A] deeply researched and radical new take on the War for Independence and the creation of the American Revolution.” — Journal of American Studies

“Explores in some depth the tension between the elite and allegedly 'plebian' citizens during the Revolutionary War.” — CHOICE

“[An] extensively researched, clearly written analysis. . . . Offers a blueprint for how historians should examine the attempts by various groups of Americans to acquire liberty and independence in the second half of the eighteenth century.” — Common-place