The King's Three Faces: The Rise and Fall of Royal America, 1688-1776 »

Brendan McConville is professor of history at Boston University and author of These Daring Disturbers of the Public Peace: The Struggle for Property and Power in Early New Jersey.

In a provocative reinterpretation of the first century of American history, McConville argues that colonial society developed a political culture marked by strong attachment to Great Britain's monarchs. This intense allegiance continued almost until the moment of independence, an event defined by an emotional break with the king. By reading American history forward from the 17th century rather than backward from the Revolution, McConville shows that political conflicts long assumed to foreshadow the events of 1776 were in fact fought out by factions who invoked competing visions of the king and appropriated royal rites rather than used abstract republican rights or pro-democratic proclamations. The American Revolution, McConville contends, emerged out of the fissure caused by the unstable mix of affective attachments to the king and a weak imperial government.

Library Journal

This latest book by McConville (history, Boston Univ.; These Daring Disturbers of the Public Peace: The Struggle for Property and Power in Early New Jersey) examines American Colonists' varied attitudes toward the British monarchy in the volatile years leading up to the American Revolution. He contends that the Colonists had a stronger allegiance to the monarchy than many historians have believed. This powerful but slowly disintegrating bond, he writes, was political, religious, and emotional. McConville thoroughly explains that it was the British rulers' failure to establish a strong imperial government in the New World that prompted the Colonists to revolt and establish a sovereign nation. He thus places the focus on religious, political, and social instability in England rather than on the American Colonists' determination and achievement. McConville uses a copious number of primary sources, including diaries and newspapers, to support his radical and provocative arguments. Heavy on political theory, this well-researched and scrupulously detailed work may be occasionally difficult for nonscholars to digest. However, it is an insightful and provocative read, challenging our attitudes and assumptions about the mind-set of American Colonists. Recommended for large academic libraries. Douglas King, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.