BOOK REVIEWS ' [ 63 ] important things one could ask about the Declaration or about Jefferson's thought? Of course, Mr. White is not primarily concerned with the Declaration, or concerned with it is as a historian would be. His concern is with formal theories of knowledge espoused or used by the leading thinkers he has examined. Precisely because this is an approach different from those most used by historians and readers of history, it has much to offer. Perhaps the approach of the philosopher is as different from the historian's as sentiment from reason. Brooke hindle, NewYork University UNDER THE GUNS: NEW YORK: 1775-1776 By Bruce Bliven, Jr. (New York: Harper & Row, 1972. Pp. 397; intro., illus., biblio., index. $10.00.) Bruce Bliven, who in 1956 contributed his engaging Battle for Manhattan to the bibliography of the American Revolution, has again centered his interest on the wartime city. His careful research has brought forth an engrossing volume which examines in microscopic fashion the events which took place in the capital city of the province of New York during the first year of the American uprising. The strategic location of the city at the mouth of the Hudson River made it obvious to all when the war broke that the province would loom large in military strategy. Basically, the colony was considered to be one of the most loyal to the king, but with the news of Lexington and Concord the initiative was seized by the radical and moderate elements who took control. Those openly in favor of the king, to their own detriment, were so confident that the king's arms—once mustered—would effectively restore royal authority that they unwittingly allowed themselves to remain subservient. The whole political situation, of course, was uncertain. The men of the New York Provincial Congress, which usurped the authority of the legal General Assembly, knew no more of where their deliberations would ultimately take them than did the politicians in the Continental Congress. In that fateful first year the colonials were fighting for their rights as Englishmen. Only with the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence did the struggle become one for the establishment of a new nation. That first year was a time for soul-searching. There were people who saw merit on both sides. Many believed that a negotiated settlement of some sort could be attained; many attempted to cling to a middle ground, but the neutrality they sought disappeared and they had to choose sides. This—the period from the outbreak in April 1775 to July 1776—is the time of which Bliven ably writes. William Tryon, the royal governor, was a