{"product_id":"9781472872678-retail-war-without-mercy-liberty-or-death-in-the-american-revolution","title":"War Without Mercy: Liberty or Death in the American Revolution","description":"\"Robust and focused\" -  The Wall Street Journal \"History at its insightful and mesmerizing best\" - Nathaniel Philbrick  Drawing on vivid contemporary accounts, this is a fascinating exploration of how and why the Revolutionary War descended into a brutal existential struggle. This engrossing history 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 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 acceptance of ferocity and brutality -  anything  to avoid defeat. A number of historians have previously concluded that the founding struggle reached a level of ferocity few Americans now associate with the movement for independence. However, these studies have described  what  happened, without looking in detail at  why  the conflict took such a violent a turn. Written by two esteemed historians,  War Without Mercy  does exactly that. Based on years of research and enlivened by primary sources, this is a fresh look at a period of history we thought we knew.","brand":"Book Grocer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49235886866651,"sku":"9781472872678-RETAIL","price":45.04,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/7c02462c-b762-4268-acf9-bd4d70583e37.jpg?v=1788868083","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/9781472872678-retail-war-without-mercy-liberty-or-death-in-the-american-revolution","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}