The British Are Coming

The British Are Coming

by | Jan 26, 2020

The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777 by Rick Atkinson. Henry Holt and Co., 2019. Hardcover, 800 pages, $40. Reviewed by William Anthony Hay Epic conflicts that punctuate American history have profoundly shaped it. The Civil...
The Loyalist Arguments

The Loyalist Arguments

by | Jun 30, 2019

God against the Revolution: The Loyalist Clergy’s Case against the American Revolution by Gregg L. Frazer. University Press of Kansas, 2018. Hardcover, 320 pages, $35. Reviewed by William Anthony Hay Historians over recent decades have put considerable effort...
Tension and Freedom for Catholics in Britain

Tension and Freedom for Catholics in Britain

by | Jan 27, 2019

The King and the Catholics: England, Ireland, and the Fight for Religious Freedom, 1780–1829 by Antonia Fraser. Nan A. Talese, 2018. Hardcover, 336 pages, $30. Reviewed by William Anthony Hay Often the most contentious political issues of one era cease being issues at...

Why We Need Liverpool

by | Apr 15, 2018

WILLIAM ANTHONY HAY While traveling with Tsar Alexander and the allied army campaigning against Napoleon as Britain’s ambassador in 1813, the Earl of Aberdeen remarked that “the heroes we read of at a distance with respect dwindle into minor figures at a near...

The Habsburgs, a Reconsideration

by | Aug 1, 2016

The Habsburg Empire: A New History by Pieter M. Judson. Belknap Press, 2016. Hardcover, 592 pages, $35. The Habsburg Monarchy has long been seen as an outdated empire doomed to fail. To the Central European societies it sheltered before 1914, it may have had a cosy...