The Cousins' Wars: Religion, Politics, Civil Warfare, and the Triumph of Anglo-America

by Kevin Phillips

Book Overview

The question at the heart of The Cousins' Wars is this: How did Anglo-America evolve over a mere three hundred years from a small Tudor kingdom into a global community with such a hegemonic grip on the world today, while no other European power - Spain, France, Germany, or Russia - did? The answer to this, according to Phillips, lies in a close examination of three internecine English-speaking civil wars -- the English Civil War, the American...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465013708
• ISBN13: 9780465013708
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 736 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A comprehensive account of the growth of two empires....

This book details the amazing parallels between British and American history as no other history book I have ever read has done. With a broad net that includes ethnic politics and religion, Kevin Phillips writes a great account of over 200 years of history on both sides of the Atlantic, detailing how the successive uprisings, the three "Cousins' Wars", were caused in large part by uprisings of Puritanism. A convincing and amazing book.

Election 2000 is a Continuation of the Cousins' Wars

I read this marvelous book in September of this year. Along with the rest of the country, and the world, watched with fascination at the saga that was the Presidential Election. I also marveled at how closely the electoral map of 2000 matched many of the 18th and 19th Century maps used by Kevin Phillips in his book. Having read this book has provided me with several intriguing angles on this contest, and its parallels throughout American History. Not simply to the election of 1876, but to the US Civil War, the Revolution, and even back to the English Civil War. Not directly in terms of specific issues, of course. This past election wasn't really about issues. But to the extent that, culturally, there still exists a strong fault line between what Mr. Phillips would call Greater New England (New England, New York, Pennsylvania, the Great Lakes region, the Pacific Northwest and California) and the Greater South (essentially, everywhere else). Does the above description ring any bells? Perhaps the states won by Bush and Gore? Hmmm....This is only the most visible parallel. Although Phillips could not have foreseen the events of the last month, after reading this book, I for one have a greater respect for how deep and true the currents in English and American History have run, and how they continue to run still.One last note: although this turns some of Phillips' analogies on their head, does anyone else think that the Democrats now run the risk of becoming America's Jacobites, bemoaning the loss of the "true" ruler to foul and illegal actions, while hoping and plotting for the Restoration? Read the book.

A provocative thesis

Every now and then a book comes along which really does live up to the usual publisher's hype that it will change our view of history - this book is one. Although there are a few factual and spelling mistakes (it's "Macaulay", not "Macauley") and the author is clearly not as comfortable with the English civil war as he is with the two other "cousins' wars" (the American revolutionary war and the US Civil War) this is a five-star book for the novelty and interest of its main thesis. It goes a lot further than books such as Fisher's which note the persistence of English regional ethnic communities in the US. It is a study rather of how Anglo-American world hegemony came to be through three trans-Atlantic civil wars. There are some parallels with JCD's Clark's emphasis on the primacy of religious discourse in Early Modern Britain and America, but Clark is a difficult writer and _The Cousin's Wars_ is very readable, and anyway goes a lot further than Clark. The author's emphasis on the divisions within the American colonies at the time of the revolution and on the strength of Whig support for the Americans in England is refreshing. Hopefully "The Cousins' Wars" Atlantic perspective will inspire more English historians to escape from their increasingly narrow pedantic anti-Whig history which has drained the subject of so much of its meaning and interest - and which can by now be clearly seen to be a dead end. And it's nice that the author recognises that Anglo-America also includes Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which together with the UK-Ireland and the USA form a natural community of countries with shared traditions and origins. Time for the Crown to be dumped and all the "Anglo-American" countries to work on closer links?

A Refreshing View Of Anglo-America

This is a startling book in many ways. First, the author completely avoids the usual "generals and battles" approach to the trio of wars: The English Civil War, The American Revolution and The American Civil War. Instead, he painstakingly follows what he sees as the 'real story', the religious affinities and social aspirations of the patchwork societies of the time. And how the push-and-pull between groups that can loosely be characterized as puritans and cavaliers sparked each of these internecine conflicts. The detail and clarity of the analysis is remarkable, but then, Phillips is a political demographer and thinker of great weight, who usually confines himself to modern times. You'll never think about the origins of the US, the misfortunes of the Irish, or current affairs in the same way again. It deserves to be read in conjunction with Fred Anderson's "Cauldron Of War", which covers an element that Phillips doesn't spend much time on, the Seven Year's War (French & Indian War). "Cousins' War" is a virtual hymn to the stunning rise and success of the US and the UK, whose centripetal forces shaped the 20th Century. And will continue to be important long into this one. Don't hesitate to buy it!

A Facinating Thesis

Political commentator Kevin Phillips has always seen unfolding events & emerging trends with remarkable clarity. Taking a break from contemporary politics Phillips has, at first glance, written a book about three wars- the English Civil War, the American Revolution and the American Civil War. However, "The Cousins Wars" reads less like a scholarly analysis of English and American history than a graduate student's thesis.And what a thesis! Phillips looks at the political implications and makes a startling argument- that these three wars are little more than a continuation of one another, a contest between Catholics and Protestants, a contest between loyalists and revolutionaries, a contest between south and north.Phillips evidence is strong- the towns and communities which opposed the King in the English Civil War and sent colonists to the new world also tended to oppose the King in the Revolution, and wanted to maintain America during the American Civil War. If all politics is local, as Tip O'Neill said, than the battlelines of these three wars were always drawn by local matters: religion, economics, and geography. Thus these wars led to the triumph of the Anglo-Saxon world of England and America, which has in turn been a blessing upon the world today.I heartily agree with this assessment. Phillips has a political opinion to make, and it is a refreshingly new one compared with the virulent Marxism that permeates much of contemporary academia.