Invisible Ink: Spycraft of the American Revolution

A used book, but in better condition than some seen in bookstores. Purchased for a man who does the very difficult crosswords and enjoys true tales from the American Revolution. Checks all the boxes for a gift!

This book reveals many of the methods the British and Patriots sent messages. Some I had known, others such as using the language of flowers I was unfamiliar with. What sets this book apart is that it is readable. Many history texts tend to be dry and hard to comprehend. This one discusses the people involved and the methods they resorted to in order to stay informed on the enemy's moves. What sets these stories apart is that everyday people were involved in spying for their country; farm girls, innkeepers, tradespeople. The methods utilized and the results they garnered undoubtedly tipped the balance in favor of the American Patriots. This was a very interesting read.

Fast delivery and a good book.

Well now, this is quite an interesting read. I worked for a number of years at a Revolutionary War house museum and this book helped improve my guided tours. Jam-packed with interesting factoids and carefully researched history. Well worth buying, as a reference book or a pleasure read.

This book arrived in good time and in the condition stated. This book surpassed my expectations. A very enjoyable and interesting read.

Disorganized. Has some interesting information but it’s buried in this badly written book.

Great

It is a shame that this book is so totally unreadable. It is obviously very well researched and the author clearly has an incredibly detailed knowledge of the subject material. The chapter notes, appendixes, and references themselves take over 100 pages at the back of the book. Unfortunately, the actual chapters of this book are so muddled, disjointed, confusing, and unconnected that I could not follow what was going on.The author makes absolutely no attempt to present his ideas in a reader-friendly fashion. I absolutely love reading about the revolutionary era, but found myself thoroughly confused as I attempted to read this book. And this should have been an enjoyable subject to read about. Spycraft is very interesting stuff. The idea of learning about clandestine operations at the time of the founding of our country seemed fascinating to me, so I was very eager to start this book. But the information seems to be presented in as dry a manner as possible and the examples presented, while relating to the context of the chapter, just seem to be thrown in at haphazard intervals and don't seem to bear any connection to each other nor have much of any internal explanation. For example, the author will throw out the name of a general who gave an encoded letter to a courier to present to a spy who would carry it to a lieutenant, etc, etc, without telling us the basics like if this was an American or British general who started this process. Are we supposed to guess? In one paragraph we will be reading about something that happened in 1783 while the next paragraph will go back to 1775. And the author seems to have the need to throw in every possible example that he found in his research. That is simply not necessary. It bores rather than impresses, and when the examples are so disconnected with no transitions between them to make them more appreciable, it becomes just a confusing mess.Now, I am no scholarly dotard. I have written and read historical essays and scientific papers and journals. I am not put off by a piece of writing just because it is academic in nature. But this book needed a serious editorial revision before it got published. What a waste! This could have been a fascinating subject to learn about, but I had to put the book aside before I even finished it simply because I got too frustrated with the disjointed way it which it was written. If you want an academic-style look at the Revolutionary period that is actually readable, let me recommend Michael Stephenson's "Patriot Battles" or Peter de Bolla's "The Fourth of July." Stay away from "Invisible Ink"