Book excerpt: The sixth edition of this two-volume History of the War of Independence of the United States of America was originally published in 1837. Written by Carlo Botta, it was translated from the Italian by George Alexander Otis. Of the work when it was originally published in 1820-21, John Adams said, "It is indeed the most classical and methodical, the most particular and circumstantial, the most entertaining and interesting narration of the American War, that I have seen." Said Thomas Jefferson, "...when the superiority of the work over every other on the same subject shall be more known, I think it will be the common manual of our Revolutionary History."