Saratoga Turning Point: The Shot That Gave Birth to a Nation!

by Andrew F. Nazzaro

Overview

“No taxation without representation” is the cry that inspires the colonies to seek independent rule after Britain imposes a litany of unbearable taxes. British General John Burgoyne’s plan is to invade the colonies from Canada and then proceed south to Albany, New York, cutting off New England from the rest of the colonies and effectively ending the war before it starts. Philip Eames, the son of an Anglican father and a Quaker mother, is a passionate hunter who is proud of his father’s service to the crown despite the views of others. Some people in his community north of Albany, don’t understand how he could fall in love with Renee, a French-Canadian Catholic who is now his wife and mother of his son. But what no one knows is that Philip is about to fulfill a destiny that even he couldn’t have imagined. As a chain of events unfolds and a single shot is fired that turns the tide of the Battle of Saratoga, history is transformed forever as France becomes America’s first ally and a nation is born. Saratoga Turning Point is a historical tale based on true events that shares the journey of a humble man whose moral principles are challenged during the American Revolutionary War.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781663232236
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/10/2022
Pages:	226
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.52(d)

About the Author

Andrew F. Nazzaro has served in executive-level roles in both the private and public sectors. A published nonfiction author, his debut novel, Saratoga Turning Point, was inspired by a visit to the Battle of Saratoga National Historical Site. Nazzaro is the father of three and currently resides with his wife, Martha in Goodyear, Arizona.

Editorial Reviews

2022-10-03
In this revisionist historical novel that dramatizes the War of Independence, a politically neutral American is drawn into the Battle of Saratoga.

Philip Eames, a trapper in Saratoga, New York, was always indifferent to popular opinion. It was considered controversial when he married Renee Merneau, a French Catholic woman, but that mattered little to him since she was the “woman he loved more than life itself.” And in 1776, when the Colonies were preparing to wage war against the increasingly oppressive British Crown, he insisted on his political neutrality, partly out of a lack of interest, partly out of moral disgust for war, and also out of deference to his late father’s loyalty to the king. But when the British troops invade New England from Canada, and his family is threatened, he finally feels compelled to join the Continental Army. Nazzaro argues that not only did Philip join the war, but contrary to conventional historical wisdom, he fired the fateful shot that killed Gen. Simon Fraser, a significant moment that influenced the course of the entire war: “Arguably, it could indeed be said that it was the single shot from the musket of Philip Eames, in not a watershed moment, but in a watershed second, which turned the tide of the Battle of Saratoga, convincing France to come to the aid of the Americans, that gave birth to the American nation.” Nazzaro’s historical scholarship is impressive, and his case that Eames is a better candidate for the shooter than Timothy Murphy is rigorous and persuasive. Also, he furnishes a remarkable synopsis of the Battle of Saratoga and astutely contextualizes it. Much of the novel lacks a dramatic literary quality, however; it often reads like a nonfiction textbook, reciting well-known historical lessons. One could do without the rehearsal of the vote regarding the Declaration of Independence, which in particular reads like an arid lecture. Still, for those interested in that battle of world historical importance, this remains a fascinating account.

A historically engrossing novel despite its literary limitations.

Kirkus Reviews