The subtitle is “The American Revolution and its Discontents, 1773-1783”. This book is somewhat of an overview of some of the people involved in the Revolution, without going into too much detail about specific battles. This author discusses the major players in the time period instead. He spends much of the book, understandably, on George Washington. He talks about his failings as General of the Continental Army, as well as his successes. But a number of other people involved in the battles, as well as members of the Continental Congress, are profiled as well.
This is one of the first books I have read that also talks about the causes of the war, and the individuals involved in making those decisions, from the British perspective. The challenge of communicating across the Atlantic in the 1700’s was part of the problem: sometimes decisions were made that were rendered moot in the time it took a letter to get to the other side of the pond. This was an issue for both sides. The other issue on both sides is that there were people in positions of power who could not, or would not, change their minds about a topic, even when presented with clear evidence that they should modify their views.
While this book does not go into too much detail about the soldiers involved in the war, the author does differentiate clearly between the militias and the regular army. While I don’t think many members of lineage societies concern themselves with what type of service their ancestor performed to qualified them for inclusion, the type of soldier made a great deal of difference to General Washington. Another point this book makes is the impact both the Continental and British armies had on the areas surrounding their encampments. If you know your ancestors lived in one of these areas, you might try to research how they were impacted.
If this was your family, how would you research them? I know I have mentioned the DAR and SAR websites before, but they are the best places to determine if your ancestor has already been listed as a patriot. There are also some sites to research Loyalist ancestors, although many left the colonies for Canada, the Caribbean, or England. If that describes some of your ancestors, the United Empire Loyalists of Canada (https://uelac.ca/) has some information you would find helpful. This book mentions, rather briefly, Benedict Arnold. There is even a lineage society for that! The Loyalists and Patriots society welcomes descendants from both side of the conflict – https://loyalistsandpatriots.org/.