The USCMH is pleased to announce the winner of the 2019 Collins Book Prize: Washington’s Revolutionary War Generals, by Stephen R. Taaffe (Norman, OK: Oklahoma University Press, 2019).
From the Prize Committee:
This comprehensive, balanced, and perceptive work focuses on the corps of generals who served the American cause during the fight for independence from Great Britain. The book presents an objective and well-supported analysis of each of Washington’s top subordinates. providing readers with an especially insightful look at early American military history. Taaffe challenges the conventional wisdom that America produced a corps of uniformly young, brave, and skilled battle leaders like Nathanael Greene, “Mad” Anthony Wayne, and Henry Knox when in fact most of the top leaders were at best mediocre and at worst dangerously incompetent. Few of them had had formal military training or even battlefield experience. Despite their flaws, they held together under Washington’s evolutionary leadership to win pivotal battles and keep the army in the field until the final victory at Yorktown. Washington’s Revolutionary War Generals, authored by Stephen R. Taaffe, Professor of History at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, complements his previous acclaimed studies of Army leadership in World War II and the Korean War. The current work reflects an impressive use of key archival sources and secondary literature. Several useful battle site maps complement the chronologically organized and well-presented text. In sum, Washington’s Revolutionary War Generals is a worthy contribution to the study of 18th century military history.