310F Fall 2026 Exploring the Global Scope of the Revolutionary War

The instructor will discuss his new book, The Forgotten World War: Exploring the Secret History of the America Revolution, from Spain to India and Back Again. In it, Baxter tells the story of the revolution as a vast war fought across four continents, showing how deeply interconnected America’s story was with events across the globe. He traveled in person to many of the places where the war was fought. In the book, he journeys to an island in the English Channel, a jungle in the Yucatán, the fortress of Gibraltar, a palace in India, and many other surprising sites where allies took on the British, their common foe. The Forgotten World War demonstrates how France, Spain, the Dutch, the Oneida Indian nation, enslaved and free African Americans, and the Mysore Kingdom all contributed to the struggle for American independence. It expands the conversation around America’s founding. The book invites audiences to reconsider independence as interdependence from the beginning.

Derek Baxter is a Fairfax native. He has written two books: In Pursuit of Jefferson: Traveling through Europe with the Most Perplexing Founding Father and The Forgotten World War: Exploring the Secret History of the American Revolution, from Spain to India and Back Again.