Now We Are Enemies

Fifty years ago, reviewers across America hailed "Now We Are Enemies" as a masterpiece. It still remains the most complete account of the clash that changed the course of America history - the battle of Bunker Hill. It was the first book about the battle in almost 100 years - and it marked the emergence of an author who has become widely acknowledged as the best historian of the American Revolution writing today. The book's readability was - and still is - vividly clear from the opening pages. "Suddenly in the empty streets of Charlestown there were moving figures. In single file fifty men hugged the dark sides of the vacant houses, stopping every few feet to listen for the sound of a hostile footstep." Across the harbor in Boston, three British major generals conferred on a plan to destroy the impromptu American army that has been besieging them. The drama's appeal swiftly expands from suspense to profoundly human dimensions. We meet privates, sergeants, lieutenants, colonels and generals from both armies who frequently tell their stories in their own words. There are pages rich in courage - and laden with heartbreak. "For God's sake spare that man!" shouts Colonel Israel Putnam as his men take deadly aim at a British officer. "I love him as a brother!" The British commander, General William Howe, stares numbly at his shattered bleeding ranks and experiences "a moment I never felt before." There is only one word for such history: unforgettable.