SeanO's Reading List

[crak]

Out of all the times I've gotten SeanO's list, this is the first time it's actually survived the Appleseed weekend and the trip home to make it somewhere I can look at it again.  To put this in context, my water bill rarely survives the trip from my mailbox to my checkbook, to the mailbox around the corner, so please take no offense.  

So for everybody who hasn't seen the list, and for myself for when I lose it again, here it is:

Thanks SeanO!!!

REVOLUTIONARY WAR READING LIST

FOR FOUNDING PRINCIPLES
Common Sense by Thomas Paine.  Fall River Press, 1995.

The Federalist Papers.  Signet Classics.  (Includes copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution with cross-references.)

The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates.  Signet Classics

The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen.  National Center for Constitutional Studies, 1981.  (See this website for excellent study guides on the Constitution.  http://www.nccs.net)

The Heritage Guide to the Constitution.  Edwin Meese, advisor; David F. Forte and Matthew Spalding, eds.  Regnery, 2005.

What Would the Founders Do?  Our Questions, Their Answers by Richard Brookhiser, Basic Books, 2006.

FOR HISTORY AND INSPIRATION
Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer (Brandeis professor who summers in Bar Harbor). Oxford, 1994.  Despite its prosaic title, the best-researched, best-written account of what happened on 18-19 April, 1775, and whiy.

The Minutemen by General John R. Galvin.  Pergamon-Brassie, 1989.  Another excellent account of the mindset of our forefathers.

John Adams by David McCullough.  Simon & Shuster, 2008.  Another excellent account of what our Founding Fathers were thinking and why.

A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier (previously published as Private Yankee Doodle) by Joseph Plumb Martin (of Prospect, Maine).  Signet Classics.  The ordeals of the Revolutionary War soldier.

Revolutionary Characters.  What Made the Founders Different by Gordon S. Wood.  Penguin Books, 2006.

The Minutemen and Their World by Robert A. Gross.  Hill & Wang, 1976.

Patriots by A.J. Langguth.  Simon & Shuster, 1988.

Lexington and Concord by Arthur B. Tourtellot.  W. W. Norton & Co., 1956.

The Day the American Revolution Began by William H. Hallahan.  William Morrow, 2000.

Almost a Miracle by John Ferling.  Oxford, 2007.

This list is just a suggestion of where I think our heads should be in trying to move our fellow citizens and our government back to timeless and universal principles on which our forefathers based the United States of America.

It offers inspiration in the stories of their risk and sacrifice, and it offers an education in the reasoned moral foundation of their motives in rising up to and overcoming the most powerful government in their world.

If we ourselves are well-grounded in the eternal truths of our position, we'll be better able to persuade others of the reasonableness of our arguments.

Best wishes in your efforts to help save America.

[lysander6]

SeanO's list is outstanding so I simply wanted to offer an addendum.

For convenient one stop shopping, I recommend the following set:

The Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War: A Political, Social, and Military History (5-Volume Set) (Hardcover)

See:  http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-American-Revolutionary-War-Political/dp/1851094083/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257540562&sr=1-2

I also think even a passing acquaintance with the French & Indian Wars prior to the festivities in the 1770s really deepens the understanding of cause and effect.

First, watch a film called:  When the Forests Ran Red

Books in order of merit:

1.  http://www.amazon.com/Redcoats-British-Soldier-Americas-1755-1763/dp/0521807832/ref=cm_lmf_tit_5_russss0

2.  http://www.amazon.com/Crucible-War-British-America-1754-1766/dp/0375706364/ref=cm_lmf_tit_9_russss0

3.  http://www.amazon.com/Montcalm-Wolfe-French-Indian-War/dp/0306810778/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1_russss0

4.  I mentioned War on the Run in an earlier post and highly recommend it as a ripping good yarn about Roger's Rangers.

You will discover that much like the influence of arms and personality of the 1848 Mexican War on the War of Northern Aggression which followed, the same holds true for the F&I Wars as a prelude to the AmRev.

Keep in mind that North America had been in almost constant conflict or alarm since about 1610.

For those interested in military reading lists from CMH and the services, follow this link:  http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/gateway/military_reading_lists.asp