North of America

Loyalists, Indigenous Nations, and the Borders of the Long American Revolution

By: Jeffers Lennox

Narrated by: Paul Heitsch

The story of the Thirteen Colonies' struggle for independence from Britain is well known to every American schoolchild. But at the start of the Revolutionary War, there were more than thirteen British colonies in North America. Patriots were surrounded by Indigenous homelands and loyal provinces. Independence had its limits.

Upper Canada, Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and especially the homelands that straddled colonial borders, were far less foreign to the men and women who established the United States than Canada is to those who live here now. These northern neighbors were far from inactive during the Revolution. The participation of the loyal British provinces and Indigenous nations that largely rejected the Revolution-as antagonists, opponents, or bystanders-shaped the progress of the conflict and influenced the American nation's early development.

In this book, historian Jeffers Lennox looks north, as so many Americans at that time did, and describes how Loyalists and Indigenous leaders frustrated Patriot ambitions, defended their territory, and acted as midwives to the birth of the United States while restricting and redirecting its continental aspirations.

©2022 Jeffers Lennox (P)2023 Tantor

Exciting! Expanded my understanding and knowledge

I loved this book! After reading it I immediately wanted to share everything I'd learned with those around me. My understanding of Canada's influence on United States history expanded and grew. Last week during Thanksgiving dinner I was rambling all about what I had learned about the Quebec Act to my parents (and for context, I'm not a history major or anything: I'm a film major).
In my BYU history class, the author visited us and answered all of our questions thoroughly. He really knows his stuff, and I do not regret a second I spent learning from this book (and writing an essay based on Lennox's words).

I would recommend this book to anyone seeking to better understand some of the major decisions and elements that helped the colonies become The United States of America (hint: Canada was a big part of it).

-G.E.M. (college student)