The First Salute [VINTAGE 1988] [FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]

Fine condition navy blue linen boards with gold front cover and spine lettering contained in a near fine condition non price-clipped color illustrated dust jacket. Includes List of Other Books by Barbara W. Tuchman; Author Dedication; List of Illustrations; Acknowledgments; Notice; Epilogue; Bibliography; Reference Notes and Index. Illustrated with a section of color photographic plates, a section of black-and-white photographic plates, black-and-white maps interspersed throughout the volume and map illustrated front and rear endpapers. A remainder mark at the upper page edge. "From one of America's most distinguished and widely read historians, best-selling author of A Distant Mirror, Stilwell and the American Experience in China, The Proud Tower, and The Guns of AUgust, and twice winner of the Putitzer Prize -- her first book since her highly acclaimed examination of the nature of government, The March of Folly.Now, in The First Salute, Barbara W. Tuchman at last turns her sights homeward to give us a deeply insightful view of certain pivotal events of the American Revolution. On November 16, 1776, a ship flying the red-and-white striped flag of the Continental Congress entered the port of St. Eustatius in the West Indies. Adhering to custom on entering a foreign port, the ship fired a salute, and the guns of the island's fort returned a ritual response. This act of recognition acknowledged that the vessel and its flag represented a legitimate nation. It was the first official salute to the United States of America, and although it took only minutes to carry out, it would have the most profound repercussions through the events of the next five years. Now, in this masterful study, Barbara W. Tuchman illuminates for us the ways in which not only America and England were affected by the Revolution, but Holland and France, and, by extension, the entire Old World as well. Drawing on her broad knowledge of history, her grasp of both human nature and the workings of government, and her exceptional narrative gift, Tuchman appraises the political, emotional, and geographical imperatives at work for each of the warring forces during the long, ragged years of conflict. She analyzes the rivalries that determined Europe's crucial role in the American struggle -- the centuries logn animosity between England and France, Holland's defiance of England's ban on aid to the Colonials -- and demonstrates how, in coming to the aid of the Americans, England's enemies made the triumph of American independence possible. She goes back to the 16th and 17th centuries to follow the course of the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain, which presaged the struggle for political liberty hat was to be taken up in the next century by the Americans. She points out how Bourbon France, in its desire to repalce Britain as "top dog," lent money, men, and armaments to America, thereby draining its treasury , which, in turn, helped bring down the 'ancie regime' and initiate the age of democracy in Europe. She restores to our view of the Revolution the key role played by the contending navies. She discusses in depth three major figures: the English Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney, who was the dominant force behind Britain's sea power; Lord Cornwallis, the general who led the British forces at Yorktown; and the French Admiral Francois Joseph Paul de Grasse, commander of the all-important French fleet; and she finds in a fourth figure, General George Washington, a spiritual strength and nobility rare in the history of generalship. Finally, she recounts in riveting detail the decisive campaign that began when Washington set out with nearly 7,000 combined American and French troops on an extraordinary 500-mile march from New York to Virginia.The First Salute .is a work of singular synthesis and fascination." - excerpt from the inner front and rear jacket flaps.…