Choosing Sides: Loyalists in Revolutionary America (American Controversies)

Review This insightful work chronicles the lives of colonists loyal to Great Britain during the American Revolution. The text consists of a 63-page introduction and a main body of approximately 80 primary sources arranged topically in ten chapters. In the impressive introduction with generous endnotes, historian Chopra situates loyalists across a palette of categories, including gender, race, and religion. She also indicates how practical reasons, such as one's proximity to military force, could trump ideology when choosing sides. The introduction could stand alone as a scholarly work; however, the subsequent section of well-organized primary sources complements it. This reviewer has only two minor negative criticisms. First, although Chopra cites each primary source, many citations are to a published version, not to the original manuscript. Second, in spite of the author's care in arguing that denominational affiliation was some indicator of one's loyalty, the Roman Catholic minority is largely absent from her calculus. Overall, this is a nuanced survey on the often-overlooked topic of loyalty to Britain, and a valuable addition to any research library that collects titles on Revolutionary America. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty. ― Choice Reviews

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1442205725

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