Fighting behind fortifications was simple compared with standard 18th-century warfare, which required soldiers to remain calm amid scenes of carnage. When British forces withdrew from Boston in March, colonial rebels declared a great victory, but Washington worried. Only in the following years, faced with governing the colonies and supplying the army, did it reveal its incompetence. He points out with no small irony that the Continental Congress was at its best in 1776 when thoughtful men debated the benefits of liberty versus the consequences of war with the world’s most powerful nation and came to the right decision. The author’s latest alternates between 1776 colonial politics during which the Continental Congress, dominated by John Adams, finally put aside efforts at compromise and opted for independence and the fighting where George Washington’s army marched from triumph in the siege of Boston to catastrophe in New York.Įllis delivers few surprises but much astute commentary. Ellis writes book after book on the American Revolutionary period. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph J.
While the tone is decidedly academic, Pearson’s style is accessible enough to make this book required reading for serious Anglophiles, students of archaeology and anthropologists alike. Along with animal bones in large quantities, an entire Neolithic settlement was unearthed there as well, proving that while Stonehenge was a place that honored the dead, Durrington was a place of celebration for the living.įilled with maps, drawings, photographs and diagrams, the book details the group’s findings in a well-organized, absorbing manner. Lipid analysis of animal bones discovered at Durrington indicates that feasting took place there on a grand scale during midsummer and midwinter.
The project has also provided a glimpse into the lives and minds of Britain’s prehistoric people. Forty-five excavations within the 6,500-acre Stonehenge World Heritage site revealed Stonehenge to be not just a monument that exists in isolation, but one of many monuments constructed within an ancient sacred landscape.įrom a massive Neolithic avenue connecting the neighboring wood henge Durrington Walls to the River Avon, to the discovery of 63 ancient cremation burials at Stonehenge, Mike Parker Pearson presents new evidence that links Stonehenge to a network of similar cremation monuments and ancient cemeteries across greater Britain. Here, the author unveils the critical new discoveries made during the massive investigation he oversaw from 2003 to 2009: the Stonehenge Riverside Project. Majestic, enigmatic and captivating, the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge is a mystery archaeologists have been struggling to solve for more than 300 years. For more from Kirkus, visit Stonehenge - A New Understanding The Austin American-Statesman has teamed up with Kirkus Reviews to bring you select reviews from one of the most trusted and authoritative voices in book discovery.
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