Books: As If an Enemy's Country

This book took me a while to finish, but not because I did not enjoy it. In fact I loved it. The Richard Archer book came out earlier this summer. It is one of a very few books on one of my favorite subjects that transcends the gap between intellectual study and popular reading material. The book is not as dense as some of Gordon Wood's works on the Revolution, but still provides intelligent analysis from Archer's comprehensive research into on of the most fascinating times in American history, the British occupation of Boston. It is easy to become accustomed to the geographical, and often social distance between us and war. Yes I have great respect and empathy for the nature of warfare, but my life has not changed in the slightest since Iraq and Afghanistan. While I experience the changes in prices of oil and other goods, that is about the extent that the war has affected my day to day life. We are extremely fortunate for this distance. I think it is fascinating that American soil has only been actively occupied by enemy troops twice in our history. The last time foreign troops fought a war on our soil was the War of 1812, and before that was the Revolutionary War. Can you imagine living in a city and having your world turned upside down by thousands of foreign troops that were sent to "keep the peace". As you can imagine, over time the tensions between residents and soldiers grew greater and greater. As If an Enemey's Country describes the torn relations of Boston's citizens over the occupation. There is so much more to this situation than the Boston Massacre. In particular there was fight between soldiers and rope makers on the docks just days before the Massacre. This book isn't very long (227 pages) and is a great read if you have even a remote interest in American history and the Revolution. I give it 5 red hunting caps. Great book.