2018/04/01 by Ken Miller · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis #Vietnamese History and Culture Studies #Communism, Protests, Social Movements
paper · doi:10.1093/ahr/123.2.576
openalex publication_date 2018/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
Historiographical currents converge in Virginia DeJohn Anderson’s gripping tale of two lives cut short by the dueling sides of the imperial crisis that created the American nation. Anderson offers a welcome reminder of the American Revolution’s callous brutality, underlining the potentially grim costs of allegiance for the struggle’s diverse participants. She focuses on an unusual pairing, investigating the clashing experiences of the celebrated rebel spy Nathan Hale and his obscure Tory counterpart, the loyalist recruiter Moses Dunbar. While Hale and Dunbar sprang from similar origins and met with similar fates, their wartime allegiances sharply diverged. The sons of Connecticut farmers, both men felt honor bound by conscience and principle. Yet both also looked to capitalize on promising opportunities presented by the war. As imperial relations unraveled, the pair’s peculiar values and affiliations put them on opposing ends of the dispute, with fatal consequences for both. The Martyr and the Traitor beautifully illustrates the twists of fortune and tangle of associations that helped seal Americans’ divisions during their first civil war.