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Decisive Day: The Battle for Bunker Hill Kindle Edition

by Richard M. Ketchum (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 95 ratings
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Richard M. Ketchum recounts the early developments of the American Revolution in Decisive Day: The Battle for Bunker Hill.

Boston, 1775: A town occupied by General Thomas Gage's redcoats and groaning with Tory refugees from the Massachusetts countryside. Besieged for two months by a rabble in arms, the British decided to break out of town. American spies discovered their plans, and on the night of June 16, 1775, a thousand rebels marched out onto Charlestown peninsula and began digging a redoubt (not on Bunker Hill, which they had been ordered to fortify, but on Breeds Hill, well within cannon shot of the British batteries and ships). At daybreak, HMS Lively began firing.

It was the opening round of a battle that saw unbelievable heroism and tragic blunders on both sides (a battle that marked a point of no return for England and her colonies), the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

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  1. Print length
    309 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Holt Paperbacks
  5. Publication date
    August 26, 2014
  6. File size
    9377 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

On the morning of June 17, 1775, British troops moved to secure the heights around Boston. Marching up an incline called Breed's Hill, they engaged a battered gathering of farmers and tradesmen who, the night before, had hastily constructed a defensive wall within range of the Royal Navy's artillery. Richard M. Ketchum tells the story of the ensuing fight in his breathtaking Decisive Day: The Battle for Bunker Hill.

Ketchum explores what made that bloody, but relatively small, action decisive by probing the deteriorating relationships between New England and Britain during the months before the battle. He forcefully argues that both the British and American commanders were still seeking ways to make peace even as the guns began to fire. After June 17, 1775, the Americans and the British could view each other only as enemies.

The author of two other books on the Revolutionary War (Saratoga and The Winter Soldiers), Ketchum has written an authoritative history of how Americans--especially the rank-and-file soldiers--won their nation through combat. In Decisive Day he argues that the remarkable transformation of American rebels into soldiers was a crucial, if intangible, episode within the battle. Indeed, as those tired and shell-shocked colonials waited on their ramparts for some of the most disciplined fighters in the world, they did not shoot haphazardly, but held their fire until they saw the whites of British eyes. --James Highfill

Review

"A fine job . . . a marvelous feat." (Bruce Bliven, Jr., The New York Times Book Review)

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00LKRBFZG
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Holt Paperbacks (August 26, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 26, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 9377 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 309 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 95 ratings

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Richard M. Ketchum

Richard M. Ketchum

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
95 global ratings
Not like new condition at all
3 Stars
Not like new condition at all
Bought this as a gift for my nephew and it is NOT like new condition at all. The rear cover has multiple fold lines. The sides of the pages are very yellowed/brown. Luckily it doesn’t smell like it looks. It shipped quickly, but overall disappointed with it’s condition!
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Top reviews from the United States

Steven P. Mark
5.0 out of 5 stars An Underrated Battle
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2009
Verified Purchase
This is a concise and highly readable history of the first real set-piece battle of the American Revolution. More than just a compelling example of good (hi)story telling, Richard M. Ketchum puts The Battle in striking contrast to the apparent lack of ability on the part of the rebels to pull it off as successfully as they did. With little or no experience, that lovable but motley crew of patriots selected the field of their choice, built it into a nearly impregnable position (but for a shortage of ammunition they would have "won"), fought valiantly, reacted as circumstances required and orderly withdrew when the caissons were empty--marks of a skilled, well-led and dedicated fighting force. Ketchum thoroughly researches his material, much of which is primary source, and provides an excellent post-mortem in terms of the forces of engagement, the immediate aftermath, the effects on the British officers and loyalists, how the Colonials drifted back into the countryside, joined Washington on his way to New York or remained in Boston holding their siege until the last British canvas sail disappeared over the horizon. I'm looking forward to Ketchum's Saratoga which I bought 2 years ago. I know I will get a full and exciting read of the War's great battle and turning point.
3 people found this helpful
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Bradley
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent research.
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2023
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I love Ketchum’s attention to detail and writing style.
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Michael E. Fitzgerald
4.0 out of 5 stars This Man Can Write.
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2004
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The Battle of Bunker Hill was a most singular event. It signified a complete break with Mother England: physically, mentally, and morally. It was a point of no return, a rupture which would never be healed.
Bunker Hill was a remarkably savage battle. As battles go, it was not particularly large affair. Twelve hundred Americans fought twice as many British. Yet, as the author points out in his introduction, nearly half of the British and one third of the Americans fell. It was a slugfest from which neither side ran, one whose ramifications still define us to this day.
Richard Ketchum has written a winner. He presents both sides views and is quite sympathetic to each. His prose is clear, precise, and compact. His maps and depictions are excellent. You will not find a more complete, fairer rendering of this event. You can almost hear the sound of battle and smell the gun powder.
This is an altogether excellent effort penned by a gifted writer.
15 people found this helpful
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eledavf Vivian
5.0 out of 5 stars The battle from both sides...
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2017
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This is a really excellent treatment of the battle. It relies for much of its detail and flavor on the diaries or correspondence of British soldiers and officers as well as of highly educated colonials and seasoned frontiersmen. We learn from all strata of society swept up in the blood and drama of an epic struggle.

The attack itself is related in detail from both sides..

But this author does more.

The sad final days, the panicked flight of loyalists from Boston -- that part of history I have never encountered elsewhere in all my decades of reading. Old men, women, children, able to take almost nothing from their homes onto the British ships, sailed away to drag out miserable lives as refugees in Canada or England.

I highly recommend this thrilling treatment of a cataclysmic event in history.
3 people found this helpful
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joe kline
5.0 out of 5 stars Bunker Hill
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2023
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Informative
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L Williams
3.0 out of 5 stars Not like new condition at all
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2020
Verified Purchase
Bought this as a gift for my nephew and it is NOT like new condition at all. The rear cover has multiple fold lines. The sides of the pages are very yellowed/brown. Luckily it doesn’t smell like it looks. It shipped quickly, but overall disappointed with it’s condition!
Customer image
L Williams
3.0 out of 5 stars Not like new condition at all
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2020
Bought this as a gift for my nephew and it is NOT like new condition at all. The rear cover has multiple fold lines. The sides of the pages are very yellowed/brown. Luckily it doesn’t smell like it looks. It shipped quickly, but overall disappointed with it’s condition!
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E. H. Ellis
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughness, accuracy, style.
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2018
Verified Purchase
The third Ketchum book I have read on the RevWar, the others being Saratoga and Victory at Yorktown. After reading through the reviews, positive and negative, on all the other Bunker Hill books on Amazon I settled on Decisive Day. Ketchum, as usual, did not disappoint me.
2 people found this helpful
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Robert Scott
5.0 out of 5 stars What incredible Courage
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2014
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I thought I had already rated this, I am catching up on my Amazon reviewing.

I had occasion to work near Bunker Hill and decided to learn more about it. I must shamefully admit that although I live near here, I knew relatively little about it.

The bravery of them American's is staggering. The British had lots of guns and uniform ammunition, the Americans had whatever hunting rifle and ammo was laying around the house. When the Americans inevitably ran out of ammo, most stayed, seeing the British advance up the hill, knowing they were about to widow their wives, to fight bayonets with only fists and rocks, all for the Concept of Freedom.

This is a good readable book, not some mind-numbing Professor work.
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Top reviews from other countries

Mr. S. Wwilkinson
5.0 out of 5 stars The battle for Bunker Hill
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2013
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Bearing in mind this was an older copy of the book, it gave a highly detailed account of the events leading up to the battle and plenty of background information. my only small beef was the standard of illustrations, however, it is an older copy and their are plenty of newer books available (some of which I have)to overcome this really minor item. All in all a great read.
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