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The Guns of Independence: The Siege of Yorktown, 1781. By Jerome A. Greene. (New York: Savas Beatie, 2005. Pp xx, 507. $34.95, ISBN 1-932714-05-7.)
This most recent work on the Yorktown campaign grew out of a National Park Service (NPS) study prepared in the mid-1970s for the American bicentennial. Jerome A. Greene, an NPS historian, has successfully revised this report into a book that both scholars and the wider public will welcome. Based on exhaustive primary and secondary research, archaeological digs, and contemporary maps, The Guns of Independence: The Siege of Yorktown, 1781 could easily be a guide for visitors to the battlefield. Equally important, it will become an indispensable study for those interested in the Revolutionary War's final decisive engagement.
A major theme that runs throughout Greene's account is the contrast between British and...