Howard's book provides a much-needed update on health and medical conditions in the Revolution.

Military History, 2024 Spring Issue

Military strategy and combat actions primarily comprise warfare accounts by military historians. Martin R. Howard argues in his new, one-of-a-kind book, Fevered Fight: Medical History of the American Revolution 1775-1783, that the practice of medicine can be equally crucial to military success or failure. Uniquely, he presents the medical history of the American Revolution, interleaving into one narrative the American and British military medical establishments and practices. Penning a wide-ranging survey, Howard includes information on Hessian, French, Naval, and Native American disease and combat care, where available. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a former medical clinician, Howard has the technical background to correctly interpret the impact of disease and medicine on armies and military campaigns...demonstrating impressive research and clinical expertise, the two-hundred-page monograph provides a vivid overview of the competing armies’ medical staffs and is chocked full of eyewitness accounts by physicians and patients.

Researching the American Revolution

Martin R. Howard’s The Fevered Fight: A Medical History of the American Revolution, 1775-1783 is a comprehensive account of the role that health care played in the Revolutionary War. A hospital consultant and accomplished historian, Howard brings a wealth of knowledge to this study. He examines both the British and the American sides of the Revolution as well as French and German efforts, and he offers insights on each of the major battles of the war. This is not a thesis-driven book, yet it is remarkably readable and full of important information that will complement anyone’s knowledge of the Revolution....The Fevered Fight is an excellent introduction to Revolutionary health care and makes this volume necessary reading for anyone wanting to fully comprehend the War for American Independence.

Journal of the American Revolution