Nathanael Greene: A Biography of the American Revolution

Publishers Weekly

Although Nathanael Greene's military accomplishments generally receive less attention than Benedict Arnold's or Lafayette's, historians consider him the better general. Journalist Carbone's lively chronicle corrects this neglect. A young Rhode Island businessman, Greene (1742-1786) was only a private in his state militia, but his political influence vaulted him to its command when fighting broke out in 1775. Washington saw Greene's impressive astuteness, and Greene became the Continental Army's youngest general. His greatest feats came after 1780, when Washington sent him to the south, an area that had ruined three previous generals. Leading poorly equipped troops and vastly outnumbered by Cornwallis's forces, he fought off the British; frustrated, Cornwallis marched north to Yorktown and defeat. Bad investments and his guarantee of loans to obtain military supplies left Greene owing huge sums, and he spent the last two years of his life struggling with creditors. Inevitably the book focuses on the war, wartime politics, the Americans' inability to support the army financially and Greene's military success. He should be better known, and this well-researched history aimed at a popular audience is a good first step. (July)

Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

"The personality of George Washington has so dominated the story of the American revolution that many of his able lieutenants have been relegated to history’s sidelines. One of these, Nathanael Greene, is now the subject of…a engaging new biography by Rhode Island journalist Gerald M. Carbone…[who] has made extensive use of the Greene papers, and these afford a rounded portrait of his subject." – The Washington Times

"Carbone gives a little-known Revolutionary War leader his due in this admiring biography... [A] lucid account of the Revolutionary War from the point of view of its most successful general." — Kirkus

“A brisk march through Greene’s short life (44 years) but action-packed military career…Arranging events in a chronological illustration of Greene’s canniness in the duel of Cornwallis, Carbone’s informative portrait should connect with the American Revolution readership.” — Booklist

"Although Nathanael Greene's miliary accomplishments generally receive less attention than Benedict Arnold's or Lafayette's, historians consider him the better general. Journalist Carbone's lively chronicle corrects this neglect...He should be known better, and this well-researched chronicle...is a good first step." — Publisher's Weekly

"To this much-needed new biography of America's most unjustly neglected Revolutionary War hero, Gerald Carbone brings a journalist's concision, a storyteller's eye for illuminating detail, a wry New England sensibility, and a historian's diligence. The result is a compelling account of how Nathanael Greene, the self-taught former Quaker ironmaster from Rhode Island, made himself over into the Continental Army's finest strategist and one of the best minds of Enlightenment America. Carbone carries us deftly through the triumphs and tragedies of this remarkable life, offering us a Founder of flesh, blood, acumen and ambition who, had he lived longer and his luck been kinder, might even have become president." —Charles F. Price, award-winning author of Freedom's Altar and of Nor the Battle to the Strong

"Ged Carbone has written a lively, accessible biography of one of the truly great strategists in American history, Major General Nathanael Greene, second only to Washington in the pantheon of heroes of the War of the Revolution." —John Buchanan, author of The Road to Guilford Courthouse

"Nathanael Greene remains one of the American Revolution's most compelling yet unsung heroes. In Nathanael Greene Gerald Carbone provides a complex and absorbing portrait of a resourceful general, a devoted husband, an unfortunate businessman and an ardent American patriot. Carbone cleary admires his subject but also portrays his all-too-human human sides. Well-researched, the general's story is told against a backdrop of dramatic battle scenes, wonderful characters and revolution that seems on the verge of collapse if not for the extraordinary sacrifices of figures such as Greene, to whom all Americans will be forever indebted."—Mark Puls, award-winning author of Samuel Adams and of Henry Knox

“With a journalist’s eye for telling anecdote and pithy, but illuminating, quotation, Ged Carbone makes Nathanael Greene come alive in this lively, readable biography that is also very good history.” —Dennis Conrad, Editor, Papers of General Nathanael Greene