Provides a dramatic account of the seminal role played by New York City during the American Revolution, from its September 1776 fall to the British under General William Howe, through years of occupation, and beyond, interweaving illuminating profiles of the individuals on both sides of the conflict with a study of the cultural, political, social, and economic events of the eighteenth century. Reprint.

The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution

History

Schecter, Barnet

Americas

Penguin??Books

On September 15, 1776, the British army under General William Howe invaded Manhattan Island, landing at an open field on the banks of the East River, roughly where the United Nations sits today. George Washington's Continental Army, still in disarray after its miraculous escape following the disastrous Battle of Brooklyn some two weeks earlier, retreated north to Harlem Heights, leaving New York in British hands. Control of the city was Howe's primary objective; located at the mouth of the strategically vital Hudson River, it had become the centerpiece of England's strategy for putting down the American rebellion. However, as Barnet Schecter reveals in his stirring narrative, far from furnishing a key to the colonies, New York proved to be the fatal albatross that strangled the British war effort.
The Battle for New York tells the story of how the city became the pivot on which the American Revolution turned―from the political and religious struggles of the 1760s and early 1770s that polarized its citizens and increasingly made New York a hotbed of radical thought and action; to the campaign of 1776, which turned today's five boroughs and Westchester County into a series of battlefields; to the seven years of British occupation and martial law, during which time Washington and Congress were as focused on getting the city back as the British were on holding it. The extraordinary campaign in the fall of 1776, which forms the dramatic heart of Schecter's chronicle, has been overshadowed by more famous engagements at Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and Yorktown, and by the winter at Valley Forge. Yet the contest for New York was by far the largest military venture of the Revolutionary War; it involved almost every significant participant in the war on both sides; and there can be little doubt that during this campaign, the fate of America hung in the balance on several occasions. Moreover, the outcome had a direct impact on the major turning points of the rest of the war.
Schecter delights in linking eighteenth-century events with the city's modern landscape, illuminating the forgotten battlefield that remains in our midst. He skillfully weaves into his narrative the memorable and passionate voices of those who were there―American private Joseph Martin, British second-in-command Henry Clinton, patriot-turned-Tory William Smith, minister Ewald Shewkirk, Nathan Hale, Benedict Arnold, and many others―thereby tracing the impact and meaning of the revolution in personal terms and giving his story a powerful human dimension. A profound and memorable saga in its own right, The Battle for New York offers valuable new insight into the American Revolution.

The Battle for New York

Walker Books

On July 4, 1863, Robert E. Lee and his Confederate army retreated in tatters from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the Union began its march to ultimate victory in the Civil War. Nine days later, the largest riots in American history broke out on the streets of New York City, nearly destroying in four days the financial, industrial, and commercial hub of the nation. Northerners suspected a Confederate plot, carried out by local "Copperhead" sympathizers; however, the reality was more complex and far-reaching, exposing fault lines of race and class still present in America today.
Angered by the Emancipation Proclamation, issued six months earlier, and by Abraham Lincoln's imposition of the first federal military draft in U. S. history, which exempted those who could pay $300, New York's white underclass, whipped up by its conservative Democratic leaders, raged against the powerful currents of social change embodied by Lincoln's Republican administration. What began as an outbreak against draft offices soon turned into a horrifying mob assault on upper-class houses and property, and on New York's African American community. The draft riots drove thousands of blacks to the fringes of white society, hastening the formation of large ghettoes, including Harlem, in a once-integrated city.
As Barnet Schecter dramatically shows in The Devil's Own Work, the cataclysm in New York was anything but an isolated incident; rather, it was a microcosm―within the borders of the supposedly loyal northern states―of the larger Civil War between the North and South. The riots erupted over the same polarizing issues--of slavery versus freedom for African Americans and the scope of federal authority over states and individuals--that had torn the nation apart. And the riots' aftermath foreshadowed the compromises that would bedevil Reconstruction and delay the process of integration for the next 100 years.
The story of the draft riots come alive in the voices of passionate newspaper rivals Horace Greeley and Manton Marble; black leader Rev. Henry Highland Garnet and renegade Democrat Fernando Wood; Irish soldier Peter Welsh and conservative diarist Maria Daly; and many others. In chronicling this violent demonstration over the balance between centralized power and civil liberties in a time of national emergency, The Devil's Own Work (Walt Whitman's characterization of the riots) sheds new light on the Civil War era and on the history of protest and reform in America.

The Devil's Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America

On July 13, 1863, the largest riots in American history broke out on the streets of New York City, nearly destroying in four days the financial, industrial, and commercial hub of the nation. Placing the riots in the context of social tension and reform from the 1840s through the 1870s, Barnet Schecter sheds new light on the Civil War era and on the history of protest and reform in America.

From his teens until his death, the maps George Washington drew and purchased were always central to his work. After his death, many of the most important maps he had acquired were bound into an atlas. The atlas remained in his family for almost a century before it was sold and eventually ended up at Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library. Inspired by these remarkable maps, historian Barnet Schecter has crafted a unique portrait of our first Founding Father, placing the reader at the scenes of his early career as a surveyor, his dramatic exploits in the French and Indian War (his altercation with the French is credited as the war's spark), his struggles throughout the American Revolution as he outmaneuvered the far more powerful British army, his diplomacy as president, and his shaping of the new republic. Beautifully illustrated in color, with twenty-four of the full atlas maps, dozens more detail views from those maps, and numerous additional maps (some drawn by Washington himself), portraits, and other images-and produced in an elegant large format-George Washington's America allows readers to visualize history through Washington's eyes, and sheds fresh light on the man and his times.

George Washington's America: A Biography Through His Maps

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Otto is a high-octane young car whose motor runs too fast. He also has trouble paying attention in school, is easily distracted, and says and does things without thinking. Otto and his parents visit a special mechanic, who prescribes a medicine to help slow down Otto’s racing motor. Otto also meets other mechanics in his pit crew, who will show him ways to be more focused and organized, and teach him ways to get along better with others. This new edition of a classic resource for young children and their families includes the latest advances in the understanding of ADHD. An expanded Note to Parents by the author discusses treatment approaches and current findings about medications, including their possible side effects. From the Note to Parents: Children may be worried or frightened regarding medication. Information can help reduce their worries and correct unrealistic ideas. Many different medications are available for use in ADHD. Often the first choice is from the family of medications called psychostimulants. The term “stimulant” sometimes creates confusion. I am often asked, “Won’t a stimulant cause my child to be even more hyperactive? I definitely don’t want that!” Neither does your doctor. It is helpful to think of these medications as stimulating the pathways in the brain that allow a person to focus and to make more efficient use of their working memory and problem-solving skills. They also help the person be in a position to acquire and practice new problem-solving skills. Problem- solving skills include:
1. Stopping and recognizing there’s a problem to be solved; 2. Thinking through alternative ways of solving it; 3. Thinking about the consequences of each alternative solution; 4. Choosing a solution based on how those consequences are valued; 5. Devising a strategy for implementing the solution.
In daily living, things happen and people respond. In shorthand, let’s say S (denoting something happens) is followed by R (denoting a person’s response), or S-R. Think of the hyphen between S and R as a way to represent the chance to focus. In a person with ADHD, the hyphen is shorter than it is in others. Medications draw the hyphen out more, from S-R to, say, S---R. It is important to understand that medication doesn’t fill in the hyphen, though. Medication doesn’t think things through or make one mindful of alternatives, consequences, or strategies. It doesn’t create or understand values, or make choices for good or ill. The person has to do all that, although he or she can find help from the pit crew.

Children's Books

Literature & Fiction

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Books by Schecter, Barnet

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Schecter, Barnet. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution

The Battle for New York

The Devil's Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America

The Devil's Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America

George Washington's America: A Biography Through His Maps

The Devil's Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America