Women in George Washington's World ed. by Charlene M. Boyer Lewis and George W. Boudreau (review)

Abstract

spotty. For example, when Taylor argues that historians need to take seriously colonists’ fear that they were being misrepresented to the metropole, is Taylor’s explanation really so diff er ent from Bernard Bailyn’s argument, that fears of misrepre sen ta tion and conspiracy formed the ideological basis of the American Revolution?3 Deeper consideration of imperial histories that have dealt with governors, kings, ministers, legislatures, and petitions might have added heft and complexity to Taylor argument about misrepre sen ta tion and mediation during the imperial crisis. Sustained engagement with works about the growing partisanship of early republic newspapers, Sedition Act, and the XYZ Affair, such as Pasley’s Tyranny of Printers, might have helped Taylor make clearer to his readers the significance of his work, particularly his analy sis of citations and his thoughtful comparisons between Amer i ca, British Canada, and Spanish Louisiana.4 All in all, Misinformation Nation is a welcome addition to the lit er a ture on eighteenthcentury communications. Taylor’s transatlantic perspective informed by continental comparisons enriches our understanding of the period.