An unusual perspective on the events that shaped a nation - from the first salute given to the US on 16th November 1776 as a ship flying the ensign of the Continental Congress arrived at St Eustatius in the West Indies, to the last campaign of the War of Independence five years later. Moving away from the familiar land battles of the Revolution, Barbara Tuchman focuses largely on the offshore noises - the machinations of the French and Dutch, the conflicts of English princes and politicians, and the victories at sea. The author achieved international fame as an historian with The Guns of August which won the Pulitzer Prize.