Next Project – A Book

I’m not a Podcaster, I just write a lot. – What Big Pun would write if he were writing this blog post. Which he’s not. Because he’s dead.

With the end (for now) of the History You’ll Never Read podcast, I’m moving on to my next history project: writing a book.

I can honestly say I found the podcast process increasingly frustrating as it went on. Both the brevity and the style were not agreeable to me. In the future, I may turn to a more conversational style podcast with a partner, but while I’m still enthusiastic about history content, I believe it’s time to finally write a book.

It will be in the popular history style and be on the American Revolution as it took place outside the 13 colonies. Instead of the French being miraculous saviors that happen to show up at Yorktown and the Battle of the Chesapeake, we will look at their actions globally, from the Caribbean to India. The Spanish and the Dutch also have a role to play, from the Sieges of Pensacola and Gibraltar to the Battle of Dogger Bank. And I will certainly look at the role of the U.S.’s most accidental ally, the Sultan of Mysore.

There have been a couple of academic anthologies on this topic, but nothing that I have seen for the mass public. So often the Revolution is depicted as a hermetically sealed effort by the colonials to free themselves from Britain with a little reluctant help from the Ancien Régime. I hope to bring the global conflict to readers and show how much more indebted the United States is to other powers and how globally integrated the colonies were even before the war began.

I’m starting off with one of those anthologies: The American Revolution: A World War. This book appears to be filled with valuable information but it doesn’t have the narrative flow so vital to a popular history.

I’m also looking for a decently priced copy of: The American Revolution: A Global War. It appears to be out of print, so any leads I would appreciate.

This blog will be an ongoing record of research and documentation as well as particularly juicy bits I find interesting as I put it together. By following here, you’ll get a near real-time view into writing a history book. 

Comments, questions and recommendations should be sent to carl@carloberg.com. I look forward to hearing from you.