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Choosing Sides: Myalisls in RevolutUmary America. By Ruma Chopra. (I an ham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2013, Pp. ix, 243. $45.00.)
Ruma Chopra presents a useful collection of primary sources penned by loyalists, accompanied by brief introductions to each source, with a substantial introduction to loyalism. This volume contributes to a growing trend to include and understand loyalist experiences within the history of the American Revolution, in this case through their own words. The main introduction offers a summary of loyalism that counteracts stereotypes of loyalists as colonial aristocrats, sycophants, or losers incapable of embracing revolutionary progress. It is not a deliberate historiographic treatment, but rather an overview of loyalism and its British-Atlantic context to situate the documents. Readers of this journal may be interested in the portrayal of Anglicanism and revolutionary religious culture. It recognizes that Anglicans and other anti-evangelicals occupied every point of the spectrum from loyalist to patriot, it considers the particular circumstances of Quaker loyalists, and it credits Anglicanism, in part, for the loyalty...