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| Author | Kathleen DuVal |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Random House |
Publication date | July 7, 2015 |
| Pages | 464 |
| ISBN | 9780812981209 |
| 973.3 | |
Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution is a 2015 nonfiction book by American historian Kathleen DuVal. Focusing on the effects of the American Revolution on the frontiers of Spanish Louisiana and British West Florida, Independence Lost incorporates biographies of eight individual historical figures alongside more general analysis of the Gulf Coast during the 18th and early 19th centuries. While the first part of the book serves as introductions for each of the historical figures featured throughout the work, later parts thread together each individual's story. The narrative details the Spanish entrance into the war against Great Britain, culminating in the Siege of Pensacola and the Spanish annexation of Florida in the Treaty of Paris.
Academic reviews of the book were positive, praising DuVal's focus on a region typically ignored by histories of the Revolution, alongside the work's character narratives and vivid description of period warfare. Criticism generally focused on DuVal's historiographical embrace of Continental history as a school of thought more generally.