James Moody's story begins in New Jersey, where he was "a plain contented farmer" before enlisting in a Loyalist provincial corps. Why he, and others like him, did so, defying republican neighbours and seeming political imperatives, is a compelling and largely untold aspect of Colonial history. Once called "that villain Moody" by George Washington himself, and "the best Partizan we had," by William Franklin, the Loyalist governor of New Jersey, Moody risked his life recruiting, gathering intelligence, and freeing prisoners behind American lines. Next came dispossession and exile in London,...