How Britain Came To Fight America

An Empire On The Edge

A lethal blend of politics, personalities and economics – and a war that few welcomed but nobody could prevent. In this Pulizter Prize finalist book, Nick Bunker explores the genesis of the War of Independence.

Nick Bunker dazzles the reader with a deeply researched and clear-eyed accounting of the dissolution of the mighty—but woefully overextended—British Empire. Bunker's mellifluous prose fairly jumps off the page, drawing the reader deeper and deeper into this intricate and fascinating tale

Utterly absorbing and full of colour, we learn afresh what a mess Britain made of leaving America and, crucially and importantly, how that mess shaped the American psyche

Highly readable account of the American Revolutionary crisis… A bracing gallop through the three years leading up to the "shot heard round the world" at Lexington, Mass., in April 1775 and an especially lucid portrait of the woes of the East India Co. A broad and telling portrait of the empire at a remarkable moment in its history

This wonderfully written book invites reflection on how a failure of political imagination so often makes war in distant places seem inevitable

Bunker’s tightly argued and deeply researched book shows how a broader perspective can shed new light on even the most familiar events

An insightful and aptly acerbic account of the lead-up to the unnecessary loss of America … The book is especially good on the commercial imperatives that draw both sides to desperation: on the private greed and the arbitrary interferences that persuaded reasonable men to risk their lives

A nuanced global analysis of Britain’s failure to hold onto its American colonies… Riveting… With a sharp eye for economic realities, Bunker persuasively demonstrates why the American Revolution had to happen

A scholarly yet page-turning, superbly written history.

Bunker’s narrative is human and even-handed; and from the Boston harbourside to the salons of London, a complex and epic tale is told with colour and enthusiasm. It should even go down well in Boston

Bunker relates the complex story of the Boston Tea Party with zest and almost intimidating thoroughness

This is a compelling read that explains British decision-making with skill and insight. Highly recommended

Shows how a lethal blend of politics and personalities led to the American Revolution

Bunker has done a wonderful job describing the tragedy of errors that led to a bitter and costly war

A distinguished and refreshing contribution to the secondary literature on the American Revolution

[It is] brilliantly written and meticulously researched.

A vigorous book, full of energy as well as insight

Nick Bunker has written for the Liverpool Echo and the Financial Times. He has two graduate degrees from Columbia University in New York, where he studied under the late Professor Edward Said. While at Columbia he began his travels around the United States. 
 
For many years, he served as a board member, treasurer and Chairman of the Trustees of the Freud Museum in London. He now lives in Lincoln.

WINNER OF THE 2015 GEORGE WASHINGTON PRIZE 
FINALIST FOR THE 2015 PULTIZER PRIZE IN HISTORY 
 
In this powerful narrative, Nick Bunker tells the story of the last three years of mutual embitterment that preceded the outbreak of America’s war for independence in 1775. It was a tragedy of errors, in which both sides shared responsibility for a conflict that cost the lives of at least twenty thousand Britons and a still larger number of Americans. 
 
Drawing on careful study of primary sources from Britain and the United States, An Empire on the Edge sheds new light on the Tea Party’s origins and on the roles of such familiar characters as Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, and Thomas Hutchinson. At the heart of the book lies the Boston Tea Party, an event that arose from fundamental flaws in the way the British managed their affairs. 
 
With lawyers in London calling the Tea Party treason, and with hawks in Parliament crying out for revenge, the British opted for punitive reprisals without foreseeing the resistance they would arouse. For their part, the Americans underestimated Britain’s determination not to give way. By the late summer of 1774, the descent into war had become irreversible.

The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World: A New History

Making Haste From Babylon

A vivid and strikingly original account of the Mayflower project as well as the Pilgrims' first decade in the New Plymouth colony.

His spirit, zeal and flair put most historians of his subject to shame

[Nick Bunker's] vivid style and bold analysis infuse this book with colour and pace, and the result is an indispensible contribution to understanding how it all began

Even beyond its indefatigable scholarship and fine style, this book's sensitivity to the meaning of landscape should influence travel writers and historians for years to come

Making Haste from Babylon is essential reading for those who think they know the story of the Pilgrims. It will be pure pleasure for those who are new to the subject

This new history has made those supposedly dull Puritans crackle with narrative energy and fizz with vibrant colour as never before

An honest, intensive attempt to reconstruct the nemal world of the first Pilgrims, and the topography of the new lands in which they settled

The mythologised vision of the Pilgrim Fathers we have today - their black hats, their lace collars, the landing on Plymouth Rock - is largely a sentimental Victorian fabrication, says this rewriting of one of America's most sacred fables

Timely... Nick Bunker has re-told an old story with aplomb, using a wealth of sources to capture the febrile mood of the time

Nick Bunker worked as an investigative reporter for the Liverpool Echo, and for six years he wrote for the Financial Times. He was an Open Scholar at King's College, Cambridge, where he won two university prizes. He has two graduate degrees from Columbia University in New York, where he studied under the late Professor Edward Said. While at Columbia he began his travels around the United States. 
 
For many years, he served as a board member, treasurer and Chairman of the Trustees of the Freud Museum in London. He now lives in Lincoln, near the villages from which the leaders of the Plymouth Colony came.

At the end of 1618, a blazing green star soared across the night sky over the Northern Hemisphere. From the Philippines to the Great Lakes, the comet became a sensation and a symbol, a warning of doom or a promise of salvation. 
 
Two years later, as the Pilgrims prepared to sail across the Atlantic on board the Mayflower, the atmosphere remained charged with fear and expectation. Men and women readied themselves for war, pestilence or divine retribution. Against this background, and amid deep economic depression, the Pilgrims conceived their enterprise of exile. 
 
Within a decade, despite crisis and catastrophe, they built a thriving settlement at New Plymouth, based on beaver fur, corn and cattle. In doing so, they laid the foundations for Massachusetts, New England and a new nation. 
 
Using a wealth of new evidence - from landscape, archaeology and hundreds of overlooked or neglected documents - Nick Bunker gives a vivid and strikingly original account of the Mayflower project and the first decade of the Plymouth Colony. Making Haste from Babylon tells the story of the early pilgrim settlers in unrivalled depth, from their roots in religious conflict and village strife at home to their final creation of a permanent foothold in America.

Nick Bunker

16 SEPTEMBER 1620: 400 YEARS SINCE THE MAYFLOWER SET SAIL 
 
On a blustery day in September 1620 a small ship, the Mayflower, set sail from the English port of Plymouth. Known to history as the Pilgrims, the passengers on board were beginning an adventure to find religious freedom, undeterred by the daunting prospect of establishing a colony in uncharted territory thousands of miles from home. They were successful. At least 10 million US citizens are their descendants. 
 
 This short edition is the essential guide to the fascinating story of the Mayflower – a project that changed history on both sides of the Atlantic. It is taken from the longer work, Making Haste from Babylon by renowned historian Nick Bunker.

Nick Bunker

Books by Nick Bunker

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