John R. Maass – författare

This sweeping narrative is an astute exploration of the five critical military events that changed the outcome of the Revolutionary war.For eight grueling years, American and British military forces struggled in a bloody war over colonial independence. This conflict also ensnared Native American warriors and the armies and navies of France, Spain, the Dutch Republic, and several German principalities. From frozen Canada to tropical Florida and as far west as the Mississippi River, the Revolutionary War included hundreds of campaigns, battles, and skirmishes on land and sea in which soldiers and sailors fought and died for causes, crowns, and comrades.In this masterful, yet accessible narrative of America's fight for liberty, John R. Maass identifies the five decisive events that secured independence for the 13 hard-pressed but determined colonies. These turning points, not all of them triumphs on the battlefield, delivered a victory for the new United States. By challenging conventional interpretations of what ensures victory in warfare, From Trenton to Yorktown offers a fresh perspective on the Revolutionary War.

This sweeping narrative is an astute exploration of the five critical military events that changed the outcome of the Revolutionary war.For eight grueling years, American and British military forces struggled in a bloody war over colonial independence. This conflict also ensnared Native American warriors and the armies and navies of France, Spain, the Dutch Republic, and several German principalities. From frozen Canada to tropical Florida and as far west as the Mississippi River, the Revolutionary War included hundreds of campaigns, battles, and skirmishes on land and sea in which soldiers and sailors fought and died for causes, crowns, and comrades.In this masterful, yet accessible narrative of America's fight for liberty, John R. Maass identifies the five decisive events that secured independence for the 13 hard-pressed but determined colonies. These turning points, not all of them triumphs on the battlefield, delivered a victory for the new United States. By challenging conventional interpretations of what ensures victory in warfare, From Trenton to Yorktown offers a fresh perspective on the Revolutionary War.

The decisive Yorktown campaign of 1781 in Virginia, in which an American and French army and navy forced the surrender of the last major British field force in America, was the final Patriot victory of the Revolutionary War. The campaign was an immense and complicated series of operations, a sprawling set of marches, encampments, sea voyages, skirmishes, battles, and a decisive siege that played out from early January to late October 1781. In the weeks before the victorious siege began, a little-known preliminary contest was fought in the Piedmont and Tidewater regions of Virginia between General Charles Cornwallis’s powerful army of redcoats and Hessians, and a small, scrappy force of Continental Army veterans and Virginia militiamen led by the Marquis de Lafayette. From late April to mid-June, a cautious Lafayette avoided fighting a battle against Cornwallis’s far superior force, which was roaming central Virginia destroying Patriot supplies. But after being reinforced in early June, he followed the redcoats more closely, looking for long awaited opportunities to strike the enemy. Lafayette got his chance at Spencer’s Ordinary and Green Spring. Although neither small engagement was an American victory, they demonstrated Lafayette’s maturity as a commander and a renewed capability for Patriot offensives.In The Battles of Spencer’s Ordinary and Green Spring, 1781, historian John Maass demonstrates how these overlooked but significant actions reveal a key aspect of the Yorktown campaign. In late June, surprised near a crossroads tavern (also called an ordinary) not far from Williamsburg, British commander John Graves Simcoe and his seasoned subordinate, Johann Ewald, with a mix of Queen’s Rangers, Hessians, and Loyalists, were able to avoid being enveloped, holding off Lafayette’s advanced force long enough for them to be able to fall back into Cornwallis’s main army. Ten days later, on July 6, the British turned the tables, surprising General Anthony Wayne near the Green Spring plantation, forcing Wayne to lead a spirited defense until Lafayette’s main force could arrive and enact a successful retreat for his troops. Full of major characters and exemplary of the smaller battles that helped shape the American Revolution, this volume offers the most detailed look at these two engagements to date.

From the closing days of the Revolutionary War in 1783 to the beginning of the War of 1812, the United States Army faced one of its most challenging periods. During this era, American soldiers confronted threats from Great Britain, France, and Spain. On the western frontier, hostile warriors from American Indian nations battled U.S. Army and militia troops north of the Ohio River, as white settlers’ insatiable demands for land provoked conflict with Indian communities. The Army suppressed civil unrest, built roads, and conducted explorations, including the transcontinental expedition led by Army officers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The post-revolutionary years also saw the Army in a process of frequent reorganization, from the disbanding of the Continental Army at the end of the Revolutionary War to the establishment of Maj. Gen. Anthony Wayne’s Legion of the United States, followed by President Thomas Jefferson’s efforts at reforming the Army into a Republican institution. These structural changes increased during James Madison’s first presidential term, as Americans prepared for war with Great Britain over maritime rights, free trade, and territorial expansion in a conflict that became known as the War of 1812.Illustrated with photographs, artwork and maps, this explains how the United States’ Army was transformed in its first four decades.

The Advances in Service-Learning Research book series was established to initiate the publication of a set of comprehensive research volumes that would present and discuss a wide range of issues in this broad field called service-learning. Service-learning is a multifaceted pedagogy that crosses all levels of schooling, has potential relevance to all academic and professional disciplines, is connected to a range of dynamic social issues, and operates within a broad range of community contexts. In terms of research, there is much terrain to cover before a full understanding of service-learning can be achieved. This volume, the first in the annual book series, explores various themes, issues, and answers that bring us one step closer to understanding the essence of service-learning.The chapters of this volume focus on a broad range of topics that address a variety of research issues on service-learning in K-12 education, teacher education, and higher education. Through a wide-scoped research lens, the volume explores definitional foundations of service-learning, theoretical issues regarding service-learning, the impacts of service-learning, and methodological approaches to studying service-learning. Collectively, the chapters of the book provide varying and, at times, opposing perspectives on some of the critical issues regarding service-learning research and practice.