Daniel Marston completed both his BA and MA in History at McGill University, Montreal, Canada and his DPhil in the History of War at Balliol College, Oxford. His book 'The Seven Years' War, also in the Osprey Essential Histories series, was published in 2001. Daniel was born and raised in Boston, MA and now lives in Dorchester, MA

The American Revolution has been characterized politically as a united political uprising of the American colonies and militarily as a guerrilla campaign of colonists against the inflexible British military establishment. Daniel Marston argues that this belief, though widespread, is a misconception. He contends that the American Revolution, in reality, created deep political divisions in the population of the Thirteen Colonies, while militarily pitting veterans of the Seven Years' War against one another, in a conflict that combined guerrilla tactics and classic eighteenth century campaign techniques on both sides. The peace treaty of 1783 that brought an end to the war marked the formal beginning of the United States of America as an independent political entity.