by Bernard Cornwell. Cornwell turns his key historical eye on the Penobscot Expedition, a little-known episode in the annals of the Revolutionary War that culminated in a resounding naval defeat for the fledgling U.S. Grounding his story in primary sources, including diaries, letters, and court transcripts, and animating a cast of real-life historical characters, he fleshes out the story of the vastly outmanned British infantry troops who stood their ground against a numerically superior naval fleet launched to summarily expel them. After establishing a shaky outpost in Penobscot, Maine then the eastern province of Massachusetts in 1779, the British forces and a band of loyalist colonists were beset by a large fleet and a sizable militia sent by the state of Massachusetts. Intent on establishing a siege, the American contingent, undermined by martial miscalculations and surprised by uncompromising resistance, was eventually thwarted by the enemy. Illuminating the battle from all angles and telling the story from both sides, Cornwell once again offers a fresh perspective on a stirring episode in martial history. --Booklist
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