With Zeal and with Bayonets Only

The British Army on Campaign in North America, 1775-1783

By: Matthew H. Spring

Narrated by: John Skinner

The image is indelible: densely packed lines of slow-moving Redcoats picked off by American sharpshooters. Now Matthew H. Spring reveals how British infantry in the American Revolutionary War really fought.

This groundbreaking audiobook offers a new analysis of the British Army during the “American rebellion” at both operational and tactical levels. Presenting fresh insights into the speed of British tactical movements, Spring discloses how the system for training the army prior to 1775 was overhauled and adapted to the peculiar conditions confronting it in North America.

First scrutinizing such operational problems as logistics, manpower shortages, and poor intelligence, Spring then focuses on battlefield tactics to examine how troops marched to the battlefield, deployed, advanced, and fought. In particular, he documents the use of turning movements, the loosening of formations, and a reliance on bayonet-oriented shock tactics, and he also highlights the army's ability to tailor its tactical methods to local conditions.

Written with flair and a wealth of details that will engage scholars and history enthusiasts alike, With Zeal and with Bayonets Only offers a thorough reinterpretation of how the British Army's North American campaign progressed and invites serious reassessment of most of its battles.

©2008 University of Oklahoma Press (P)2014 Redwood Audiobooks

A fine work of history ruined by a poor recording

This is a well-researched and informative work that covers a wide range of topics of interest to military historians and lay readers. Unfortunately, the audiobook falls apart abruptly with the listener subjected to hundreds of retakes. It’s infuriating to listen to and totally unprofessional. Shame on the audio editors.

narration was robotic and unemotional unfortunatel

narration was slow and robotic and unfortunately unemotional. the listening of this book stopped after 1 chapter very sad

The narration kills the story

The narration is awful. The editing left outtakes in the recording. You sometimes hear the same lines two or three times in a row, there's coughing and throat clearing, and when it's not riddled poor editing, it sounds like the narrator is bored with the material himself. Very disappointing.

Awful Narration Chapter 11/9 Unedited

I have listed to over 300 audiobooks on this app, and never left any review lower than 5 stars before this one. I got to chapter 11 in the audiobook navigation, chapter 9 in the book and it became unlistenable. The entire chapter seems to be unedited. The entire narration before then was stilted, robotic, and overall a chore to listen to. The substance and subject of the book itself are excellent, it's a shame the audiobook turned out so poorly.

Good content, ruff reader

The British military perspective of the American Revolution is a fascinating story. The reader for this edition is not easy or fun to listen to. His pronunciation is halting and slow. Good book, hard to listen to.