Paul David Nelson – författare

Paul David Nelson has written an exciting biography of an exciting figure—the military hero of the American Revolution and the Indian Wars in the Northwest Territory—"Mad" Anthony Wayne. Some of his contemporaries called him rash and impetuous, a braggart and a dandy. "More active and enterprising than judicious and cautious" was George Washington's verdict. True, Wayne had a flair for the dramatic and consciously acted the role of swashbuckler, but he proved himself one of the best and most successful military leaders of the early American republic. Despite his reputation for madness, Wayne, as Nelson points out, was a prudent and careful officer whose military record belies the myth. When he ran out of wars to fight, Wayne turned to the political arena. Nelson shows that the qualities which made Wayne a great military leader served him well in politics. He proved himself articulate and shrewd in statecraft in a critical time for the young republic, the years just after ratification of the Constitution.

William Tryon's role in the affairs of British America during the last years of the empire, and his inability to stem the collapse of that empire, makes for a fascinating story. Royal governor of North Carolina from 1765 to 1771 and then of New York from 1771 to 1780, Tryon became a general in the British army attempting to quell the American rebellion. This biography covers his life in service to the Crown through the end of the American Revolution.Paul Nelson argues that Tryon was a talented colonial administrator and a successful, even popular, governor largely because he understood American thinking on such basic constitutional issues as taxation, finance, and trade policy. British home authorities failed to follow Tryon's sage counsel regarding the governance of the colonies, advice that might have forestalled the Revolution. In particular, Tryon, like Edmund Burke and others in Parliament, could not convince British ministers that Americans would never accept internal taxes imposed upon them by London.Once the war broke out and Tryon's role changed from governing to leading Loyalist American troops, he was an advocate of harsh, retributive warfare against his former charges. Nelson follows Tryon's military career, especially his debates with colleagues such as Sir Henry Clinton on the wisdom of hard-line versus conciliatory approach to the fighting. And after the war, Nelson shows, Tryon's connections with those unfortunate Americans who came out on the losing side of the great imperial struggle retained an important place in his life. An exciting drama in its own right, Tryon's story also serves to illuminate a number of issues important to historians of the Revolutionary War. Played out on two continents and in two important American colonies, amid the stirring events that resulted in the formation of the United States of America, Tryon's life is significant for understanding many aspects of politics and society in the Anglo-American world of the eighteenth century.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Though Major General James Grant's name appears in many early histories of Florida, he has been remembered primarily for one speech he delivered in Parliament in 1775 that disparaged American military might. In this biography, Nelson aims to establish Grant as an intelligent participant in the political and military events of his age. As the first royal governor of British colonial Florida (1763-73), Grant practically created the colony once it was secured from Spain at the end of the Seven Years' War. His deliberate cultivation of friendships in the neighbouring colonies of Georgia and South Carolina is part of the annals of royal administration, and he left behind a record of balanced, careful leadership. Even after he returned to Great Britain, where he represented Scottish constituencies in Parliament, he maintained an interest in Florida's fate, not least because he held tracts of land in East Florida that yielded profits from indigo. Using previously neglected Grant papers at Ballindalloch Castle in Scotland, as well as better-known materials, Nelson documents the roots of Grant's personality and ambitions, aiming to produce a work of interest for scholars of the American revolution and of military history, as well as early Florida and 18th century British history.