Tories: Fighting for the King in America's First Civil War

Most Americans have learned the essential narrative of the American Revolution: Our Founding Fathers led proud Patriots to fight against British rule and ultimately prevailed. Rarely mentioned are the thousands of Tories, or Loyalists, who supported the British and fought to remain in their American homes as loyal subjects of the crown. Historian Thomas B. Allen contends the American Revolution was as much a civil war as it was a rebellion against the British.

Thomas B. Allen is the author or coauthor of more than 30 books on subjects ranging from espionage to exorcism. But his primary interest is history, especially military history,an interest that recently produced Mr. Lincoln's High-Tech War, which he wrote with his son, Roger MacBride Allen. The book was cited by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and selected by Voice of Youth Advocates Magazine as one of the best nonfiction books of 2009. Another recent book, published jointly by the National Geographic Society and the International Spy Museum is Declassified: 50 Secret Documents that Changed History, a History Book Club selection.