Winning Independence

The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778-1781

By: John Ferling

Narrated by: Rhett Samuel Price

Bloomsbury presents Winning Independence by John Ferling, read by Rhett Samuel Price.

Co-Winner of the 2022 Harry M. Ward Book Prize

From celebrated historian John Ferling, the underexplored history of the second half of the Revolutionary War, when, after years of ­fighting, American independence often seemed beyond reach.

It was 1778, and the recent American victory at Saratoga had netted the U.S a powerful ally in France. Many, including General George Washington, presumed France’s entrance into the war meant independence was just around the corner.

Meanwhile, having lost an entire army at Saratoga, Great Britain pivoted to a “southern strategy.” The army would henceforth seek to regain its southern colonies, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, a highly profitable segment of its pre-war American empire. Deep into 1780 Britain’s new approach seemed headed for success as the U.S. economy collapsed and morale on the home front waned. By early 1781, Washington, and others, feared that France would drop out of the war if the Allies failed to score a decisive victory that year. Sir Henry Clinton, commander of Britain’s army, thought “the rebellion is near its end.” Washington, who had been so optimistic in 1778, despaired: “I have almost ceased to hope.”

Winning Independence is the dramatic story of how and why Great Britain—so close to regaining several southern colonies and rendering the postwar United States a fatally weak nation ultimately failed to win the war. The book explores the choices and decisions made by Clinton and Washington, and others, that ultimately led the French and American allies to clinch the pivotal victory at Yorktown that at long last secured American independence.

©2021 John Ferling (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Superb

Fascinating, crisply laid out analysis and very easy to follow. It’s a wonder the rebels ever succeeded, and this books lays out all of the twists and turns leading up to and including Yorktown.

Narrator was perfectly fine

I read some comments about the narrator being horrible but he did a 4+ star job. No Grover Gardner but it was totally listenable. Great content. We learn about Saratoga then Yorktown but there was years in between them that doesn’t get talked about. Battle of cowpens was my favorite. I’d recommend to anyone who likes military history.

Informative Book—Terrible Narrator

The book provides good coverage of the war as a whole, with major focus on events post-Saratoga. Ferling laid out an interesting framework for the book at the outset, but failed to explain how that framework played out as he described the events. He would explain events but did not summarize how these events fit the framework as he went along.
Rhett Samuel Price made the book difficult to listen to because of his constant and frequent mispronunciations. Apart from the partially excusable problems with French names, he often mispronounced common English words (e.g., “sow” for “sew”). I found my listening was distracted by such mispronunciations. I am amazed that the producers of this book’s narration let it become public.

Good story, strange pronunciation issues

The reader mispronounces so many words, it hurt my ears. Even giving him some grace with the French commanders names, it’s about the end of the war set primarily in Carolina. It’s not “Carolinan” -it’s pronounced “Carolinian.” The reader has no “acumen” (he really butchered that one) but the book itself is brilliant. It was a great look at the history with captivating storytelling.

Unlistenable

Was really looking forward to this book, but after struggling through the first nine or ten hours, with the narrator’s often-stilted, mispronunciation-filled reading of the book, I have to give up. I even briefly wondered if the book was being read by some kind of computer-generated artificial voice. Not up to Audible’s usual standards, which is a shame for such an important book.

Embarrassing Narrator

Great book. Unfortunately narrator's command of basic English appalling. Calvary? Boocolic? And more. Where's editing?

Enlightening.

Wow! Feeling delivers on his promise. Though much of the story has been well- covered, Ferling brings a fresh look at General Clinton with some piercing critiques of all the top Generals.

Less focus on battles, though still adaquate, leaving room for some excellent coverage of broader forces driving the Generals.

Ferling is skeptical of attempts by some to demonize or canonize favorite actors on both sides. He tries instead to “humanize” them through many primary and contemporary sources which paint a more accurate and complete vita. He is very mindful of the historic, social and economic context driving decisions which I much appreciated.

I share the author’s disregard for psychoanalysis applied to History. It is ludicrous to suggest a diagnoses for an individual never interviewed and evaluated, who lived in a forgone era. Very unprofessional and too common on the bookshelves.

Please get a pronunciation guide

It is a very good listen and worth it. But next time, get a pronunciation guide for the narrator.

decent survey with some glaring issues

Ferling is a mediocre writer, and this book will offer an adequate survey of a lesser-known period of the war.

I had 2 main issues with his writing: firstly, inaccuracies. Ferling will sometimes describe an event that completely contradicts multiple other historians, and at (at least) one point he even contradicts himself. in his narration of the Battle of Stony Point, he claims 200 men were in the vanguard, that the vanguard suffered "over 50% casualties", and that the Americans suffered "under 100 casualties" overall. This ridiculous inacuraccy could've been easily remedied with one proofread, and Ferling's failure to notice it suggests this book was, frankly, half-a$$ed.

He also has an inexplicable aversion to specifying dates for key events. You'll rarely get more than a vague description of when something happened.

The narrator would be pretty good were it not for the laughable mispronounciations others have mentioned.

Conflicted verdict

I really struggled with this book. I thought overall from a history point of view is was pretty good. The narrator made it hard to listen to at times. The delivery was flat and very monotone and his way of pronouncing things was jarring. The author often got in his way with his love of language. This is a narrative history not some period piece novel. Alliterative descriptions are okay when used sparingly but they we very much over used in this work. I could probably recommend the book to someone to read however I wouldn't recommend the audible version.