Flood's nifty little book focuses on five important Patriot military defeats in the American Revolution. They include the 1775 Quebec expedition, the surrender of Fort Washington in 1776, the expedition to Penobscot Bay in 1779, the disaster at Camden in 1780, and the campaign leading up to Yorktown in 1781.

Each of these is a mini-masterpiece in storytelling, chocked full of great detail. Heck, I'd never even heard of the Penobscot expedition, and the account of the attack on Quebec is the best I've read. ( )