From the dust jacket: "The crucible of the Revolution which produced America was not alone a matter of the Colonies against England, but of the Colonials against each other. There were loyalists as well as rebels - men and women who believed that a new world could be built without the bloodshed and suffering that war with England entailed.
"Out of that conflict, Kenneth Roberts has written his greatest novel, Oliver Wiswell, in which the hitherto little-known and profoundly misunderstood loyalist cause is boldly and dispassionately set forth...
"In Oliver Wiswell, Yale undergraduate, sincerely loyal to the established government of the Colonies, through whom the story is told, the author has created a character whose steadfast loyalty to his ideals and passion for justice and truth make him a symbol of the best forces in every nation."