Buy new:
-12% $16.67
FREE delivery Thursday, May 16 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$16.67 with 12 percent savings
List Price: $18.95

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Thursday, May 16 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 8 hrs 24 mins
Only 14 left in stock - order soon.
$$16.67 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$16.67
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
30-day easy returns
30-day easy returns
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Returns
30-day easy returns
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$6.59
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Monday, May 20 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$16.67 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$16.67
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Revolution on the Hudson: New York City and the Hudson River Valley in the American War of Independence Paperback – June 6, 2017

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 244 ratings

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$16.67","priceAmount":16.67,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"16","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"67","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"RGhe3p0LsswrAYooi%2BqnipV5u%2Bu4Jh7qIA6zqfUawih7I9UEXhxgl539AqYST4Aopo0MzRUJZSqqEjLbKcj%2FzkIvxsHhzVVBr0lJi3I%2FkbrciTULogcgUeO54cL7rm1pbvYB7jqu%2B6oTMbGuZvVhPg%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$6.59","priceAmount":6.59,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"6","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"59","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"RGhe3p0LsswrAYooi%2BqnipV5u%2Bu4Jh7qViat78hN4weF%2F9Rz5pXITxv0B94Mogacx3kUQh0XJVFnrD33ulyghcfkmxIwAuGahzo%2Fz%2F20OiYCFJPQiXuLVu%2BHDTT03V3xC91h%2F7YSI%2BWMOtf8SuHzLf2NuA0TR2zJqisWtDIOd8cvcm0cxNokKeINHxGq%2Bdz0","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

The riveting untold story of the fight for the Hudson River Valley, the decisive campaign of the Revolutionary War.

No part of the country was more contested during the American Revolution than New York City and its surroundings. Military leaders of the time―and generations of scholars since―believed that the Hudson River Valley was America’s geographic jugular, which, if cut, would quickly bleed the rebellion to death. In Revolution on the Hudson, prize-winning historian George C. Daughan makes the daring new argument that this strategy would never have worked, and that dogged pursuit of dominance over the Hudson ultimately cost Britain the war. This groundbreaking naval history offers a thrilling response to one of our most vexing historical questions: How could a fledgling nation have defeated the most powerful war machine of the era?

Read more Read less

The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[A]n exacting account of the personal and national cost of the rebellion on both sides."
Paula Uruburu, New York Times Book Review

"Daughan’s narrative is by turns suspenseful, elegant, and moving."
Ian W. Toll, best-selling author of Six Frigates

"[Daughan] deftly highlights how naval power shaped even war on land."
Wall Street Journal

"In this fresh, vivid, and often surprising telling of the Revolutionary War, George Daughan explores the timeless theme of hubris and the critical role of geography in the making of American independence. A commanding, compelling performance by an inspired historian."
Evan Thomas, author of John Paul Jones and Being Nixon

"Fascinating…Daughan brings all his subjects to vivid life."
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"An enlightening combination of military and regional history."
Booklist

About the Author

George C. Daughan holds a PhD from Harvard University, where he studied under Henry Kissinger. One of his previous books, If By Sea, won the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature, and he has been honored with the Samuel Eliot Morison Award from the USS Constitution Museum for his work as a naval scholar. He lives in New Hampshire.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (June 6, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393354148
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393354140
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.6 x 1.2 x 8.3 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 244 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
George C. Daughan
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
244 global ratings
A Very good read.
4 Stars
A Very good read.
A very good read about the Revolution not just on the Hudson (North) River but pretty much about the entire war. He goes in details in some of the battles from both sides where some authors stress one side. The only negative I’ve found was the lack of maps. I kept “A Battlefield Atlas of the American Revolution by Craig Symonds" nearby to reference the locations and the sequences of many of the battles. Otherwise a great book, well done. Four stars due to a lack of maps. Other wise it would be five.
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2019
This book was a revelation, I bought it to learn more about the Revolutionary War and New York and got so much more. It is a fantastic read, tells a great story, really fills in a lot of holes about the overall war from 40,000 feet, but still provides real interesting detail about the entire war. I even learned new facts about Benedict Arnold, that he was just as effective a leader for the Brit's after turning than he had been for our side. What a tragically flawed human being, he could have been a president of the United States if he wasn't so vane.
2 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2016
Many authors have demonstrated the seemingly infinite ways the story of America’s revolution may be told and re-told by concentrating, for instance, on pivotal battles (see, Richard Ketchum’s superb “Saratoga: Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War”) or locales (see, Richard Berleth’s splendid “Bloody Mohawk: The French and Indian War and American Revolution on New York’s Frontier"). From the title of this work, I assumed that Author Daughan’s approach was going to be similar to Berleth’s, that is, a concentration, both geographical and events-oriented, on the Hudson Valley.

I was incorrect. But that’s not to say that I was necessarily disappointed. One doesn’t get far into the book to realize that Daughan’s account is going to be more far-ranging and comprehensive than the title suggests. In fact, what the reader is presented is a well-told story that (whether the author intended it or not) amounts to a strategic view of the war, particularly from the British standpoint. In discussing the give’s and take’s on both sides of the struggle, Daughan indulges in a good deal of supposition and inference, coming down hard, for instance, on Washington’s early misjudgments and especially on the British military leadership’s inability to work together (to say nothing of their relations with their London overseers), with eventually cataclysmic results. While the author’s frequent conclusory dispositions largely accord with my understanding of the actors’ strengths and weaknesses, I found Daughan’s unrelenting “rights” and “wrongs” adjudications slightly off-putting.

Having said all that, the author does an excellent job of relating the ebb’s and flows of the war in a relatively short work. And the lessons never learned by King George III and his ministers are once again manifest; their hilariously optimistic take on the loyalists’ willingness to rally to the Jack, never mind their fighting dispositions; the tenacity of the “rebels,” and their inconsistent but always-improving ability to fight; and, lastly, the sheer size of America which absolutely precluded the investiture and maintenance of control of any significant part of the country. And if a reader is intrigued by the wrong-headedness of Britain’s ambitions and strategic shortcomings, I highly recommend Andrew O’Shaughnessy’s “The Men Who Lost America,” a simply delightful recounting of the roles of the principal King’s actors in the loss of the continent.

So, while I was slightly disappointed by the author’s not sticking to his purported subject, I must say that I was impressed with his digressions, and suggest that this would be a fine introductory work for someone new to the history of the war which would undoubtedly whet the reader’s appetite for more specialized treatments.
11 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2016
I decided to write a quick review of this book and was surprised to see a one star review when I thought it was so good. Had to shake my head when I saw that the one star review was written by someone who had not read the book but only looked in the index...The book itself successfully straddles that fine line of providing all the historical detail you could want while still telling a story that keeps your adrenaline pumping. Daughan brings the Revolution alive and I doubt there will be any Revolution buff who fails to have an "I never knew that!" moment. Definitely worth your while whether your interest in the Revolution is casual or complex.
34 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2021
My family has long ties to New York and I read Revolution on the Hudson to gain new information and found it. I bought 2 copies of the book to distribute to fellow amateur historians. This is a must read for all wanting to know more about our American story and struggles. Good information on how the British viewed our Revolution. Good added details I didn't know.
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2017
A very well-written book, clear with an interesting narrative. The title is somewhat misleading: very little of the action takes place on the Hudson River. This is more or less a naval history of the entire war throughout the colonies, although it stresses how both sides saw control of the Hudson corridor as vital. Dr. Daughan is an expert in naval strategy, but writes for the lay reader's enjoyment. He also provides unique insights into the mistakes and failures of both sides. All in all, a wonderful book for anyone interested in our War for Independence.
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2016
This is a wonderful book when it comes to British ineptness and mismanagement of the Hudson River valley. The irreparable harm the whites did to the native Americans should go down in history equal to the genocide that has been going on since mankind set foot on this earth. The only problem being that we knew better, but out of greed and selfishness, we destroyed a way of life and blamed it on the savages. The Hudson was the main artery to bountiful land and riches untold. And the British Colonials fought to the bitter end to subdue the Indians, Dutch, French and anyone else who would dare stand in the way of colonial greed and British blundering. Well it all caught up with them but at such a great toll to the original inhabitants. The Crown got its money's worth and in the end they got a snoot full. Could not have happened to a more deserving foe.
4 people found this helpful
Report

Top reviews from other countries

Stephen Davidson
5.0 out of 5 stars More than its title indicates
Reviewed in Canada on August 27, 2020
This book provides a great overview of the American Revolution, demonstrating the wisdom and folly of leaders on both sides of the conflict. Rather than being focussed on events along the Hudson River, the book describes battles from North to South and the "almost" moments when the course of history could have been changed.
Rick Klemenc
4.0 out of 5 stars a good read
Reviewed in Canada on April 14, 2019