"It's Part of Our National Mythology That Does Not Serve Us Well"

"By belittling the enemy, we diminish the magnitude of our American achievement. While well intended, this 'History Channel' fairytale about Cornwallis, the other British generals, the troops they led, and the conduct of the war is counterproductive. It is an instance of American exceptionalism—we are always better, smarter, and more courageous than the 'JV teams' we face—that we should guard against, not encourage. It makes us vain and smug, and therefore tempting prey for the ruthless SOBs of the world who are amused by our assumptions of unassailable virtue and sparkling intelligence and would take advantage."

Allen Pell Crawford in The American Conservative reviews Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy's The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire and Matthew H. Spring's With Zeal and With Bayonets Only: The British Campaign in North America, 1775–1783.