{"product_id":"war-without-mercy-liberty-or-death-in-the-american-revolution","title":"War Without Mercy: Liberty or Death in the American Revolution","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDrawing on vivid contemporary accounts, this is a fascinating exploration of how and why the Revolutionary War descended into a brutal existential struggle.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis engrossing history of the Revolutionary War conclusively shows that those caught up in it believed they had nothing to lose by fighting without regard for the rules of so-called \"civilized warfare.\" The clarion call to arms \"Liberty or Death\" was far more than just rhetoric. At its grimmest level, it was a conflict in which military restraint was more the exception than the rule, a struggle in which combatants believed their very existence was in question. This led to an acceptance of violence against persons and property as preferable to a defeat equated with political, cultural, and even physical extinction. It was war with an expectation and acceptance of ferocity and brutality - \u003ci\u003eanything\u003c\/i\u003e to avoid defeat. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA number of historians have previously concluded that United States' founding struggle reached a level of ferocity few Americans now associate with the movement for independence. However, these studies have described \u003ci\u003ewhat\u003c\/i\u003e happened, without looking in detail at \u003ci\u003ewhy\u003c\/i\u003e the conflict took such a violent a turn. Written by two esteemed Revolutionary War historians, \u003ci\u003eWar Without Mercy \u003c\/i\u003edoes exactly that. Based on years of research and enlivened by little known primary sources, this is an intriguing and fresh look at a period of history we thought we knew.","brand":"James Kirby Martin, Mark Edward Lender","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":47288344576236,"sku":"9781472872678","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0684\/1791\/3068\/files\/9781472872678.jpg?v=1770542990","url":"https:\/\/intl.allstora.com\/products\/war-without-mercy-liberty-or-death-in-the-american-revolution","provider":"Allstora","version":"1.0","type":"link"}