The cousins' wars : religion, politics, and the triumph of Anglo-America / Kevin Phillips.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Pt. 1. The Beginnings of Anglo-America and the Setting of the First Cousins' War. 1. The Protestant Background of Anglo-American Expansion and the Cousins' Wars -- Pt. 2. The Early Cousins' Wars. 2. Anglo-America's First Civil Wars: The British Setting, 1630-1763. 3. America, 1763-1775: The Inheritance of Revolutionary Conflict. 4. The British Empire and Civil War in the Western Hemisphere, 1775-1783. 5. The Making of a Revolution: Patriots, Loyalists, and Neutrals. 6. Support for the American Revolution Within the British Isles. 7. Trauma and Triumph: Saratoga and the Revitalization of the British Empire -- Pt. 3. The Final Cousins' War. 8. Sectionalism, Slavery, and Religion: The Continuity of the Second and Third Cousins' Wars. 9. The Final Cousins' Fight: Causes and Origins of the American Civil War. 10. The U.S. Civil War: Loyalties, Alignments, and Partisanships, 1861-1865. 11. The U.S. Civil War and the Framework of Anglo-America --

Pt. 4. The Triumph of Anglo-America - War, Population, and English Language Hegemony. 12. The Cousins' Wars and the Shaping of Anglo-American Politics. 13. Demographic Imperialism: The Second Architecture of Anglo-American Hegemony. 14. The English Language: Words as Weaponry?

The question at the heart of The Cousins' Wars is this: How did Anglo-America evolve over a mere three hundred years from a small Tudor kingdom into a global community with such a cultural and linguistic hegemonic grip on the world today, while the other European powers - from Spain to Germany - did not.

The answer to this, according to Phillips, can be found in a close examination of the English-speaking people's three major internecine conflicts - the English Civil War, the American Revolution, and the American Civil War. These wars between cousins functioned as crucial anvils on which various religious, ethnic, and political alignments and successes were hammered out, setting Great Britain and America on a unique two-track path toward world leadership.