
The Home Front
Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence
Lauren Duval(Author)
The University of North Carolina Press
Published on 16. December 2025
Book
Hardback
408 pages
978-1-4696-9005-6 (ISBN)
Description
Prior to the American Revolution, the urban centers of colonial North America had little direct experience of war. With the outbreak of violence, British forces occupied every major city, invading the most private of spaces: the home. By closely considering the dynamics of the household -how people moved within it, thought about it, and wielded power over it- The Home Front reveals the ways in which occupation fundamentally upended the structures of colonial society and created opportunities for unprecedented economic and social mobility. In occupied cities, British officers usurped male authority to quarter themselves with families, patriot wives governed households in their husbands' absence, daughters flirted with officers, domestic servants disappeared with soldiers, and enslaved kin absconded to British lines in pursuit of freedom. As Lauren Duval shows, the unique conditions of occupation produced an aggrieved American population bound by shared emotional distress and domestic disorder. In the wake of this deeply disorienting experience, elite Americans deliberately reconsecrated the private home as a national symbol that epitomized masculine authority.
Building on a stunning wealth of primary sources, Duval vividly captures daily life during the Revolution through the eyes and ears of those who intimately experienced it, showing how men and women of all races, statuses, and states of freedom understood its implications for their lives, families, and the nascent American Republic.
Building on a stunning wealth of primary sources, Duval vividly captures daily life during the Revolution through the eyes and ears of those who intimately experienced it, showing how men and women of all races, statuses, and states of freedom understood its implications for their lives, families, and the nascent American Republic.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Chapel Hill
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
32 illustrations - 32 halftones, notes, bibl., index - 32 Halftones, unspecified - Index - Bibliography
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 165 mm
Thickness: 34 mm
Weight
803 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4696-9005-6 (9781469690056)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Lauren Duval
The Home Front
Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence
E-Book
10/2025
Omohundro Institute and UNC Press
€29.49
Available for download
Person
Lauren Duval is assistant professor of history at the University of Oklahoma.