History Book Suggestion - What's Yours?

[Tar Heel]

I picked up a very good history book that I feel supplements Paul Revere's Ride, and I thought I'd share it. It's called American Spring by Walter R. Borneman. It follows a similar recounting of the events leading up to, during, and after the Battles of Lexington and Concord. I enjoyed reading it because it reinforced many of the stories of our three strikes and other history blocks, but it also adds a lot of social and military context.

I feel that I came away with a broader understanding of the day-to-day implications of the beginning of the Revolutionary War period for ordinary folks. American Spring also served the purpose of fleshing out the leaders of both sides in three dimensions, including the loyalist colonists and the royal military officers. It's easy to fall into the pattern of portraying the events of that time as "good guys vs. bad guys," but there were conflicted and well-meaning men and women on both sides doing their best to live by their own code. In fact, there were many people of the time who were navigating being on both sides, or on neither side just trying to do their business and get by.

In any case, I recommend giving it a read. It's not short, but the style is narrative and it moves right along.

What else should I add to the History shelf of my home library?

[Cincinnatus-Dchelwig]

Thanks Tar Heel.
I've got the book (American Spring) reserved at my local library. It's in their system but they get it from another location.
I hope to be reading it in the coming week.

[ChuckA]

Sort of a combo, but hard to find, The full set (3 Parts) is Seedtime of the Republic by Clinton Rossiter. Part 3 is "Political Thought of the American Revolution".

Some familiar phrases pop up early on in the full tome: "The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people"

[DEH]

"Democracy in America." Alexis de Tocqueville. 1835. He was a sociologist who traveled America during the Jackson administration and during the early days of Westward Expansion. 

He gives a detached analysis of what he saw of American society and his views on what influenced things like the American Revolution.  Many of his predictions like the potential for America to degrade into a soft despotism are eerie.

It helps understand the people, society and mindset of early America while the ideas of the American Revolution were still fresh.

"Liberty is my foremost passion. I have a love for liberty, law, and respect for rights. I am not of the revolutionary party nor of the conservative."




"A Rifleman Went to War." Herbert W. McBride.  He served in the Canadian military and later US military during WWI. He served first as a machine gunner and later what he called a "Rifleman." In actuality it would be the immediate precursor to what we call a sniper.  This book was on the USMC sniper school suggested reading at one time.

While this is not a Revolutionary War book, it does help answer some questions that get asked at Appleseed events.  Questions like why we teach what we teach and why it is important for people to become Riflemen.

"When you have a good Rifleman you have a man who is confident of his ability to take care of himself;  the quality pertains not to the rifle, but to himself; so you have a man who can quickly be turned to doing anything."

This is more or less the quotation I use when someone asks me at an event why we are trying to create a nation of Riflemen along with putting people in touch with their heritage as Riflemen.

[CaptainRebop]

The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood is another one of those books that discusses how the entire structure of Colonial society was changing in the lead up to the Revolutionary War, and it focuses mainly on what that meant for ordinary folks.  It cites some interesting journals, and has become my go-to recommendation for anyone who asks me "Was the American Revolution really a revolution, or was it more of a civil war?"

Liberty and Freedom by David Hackett Fischer (author of Paul Revere's Ride) is an incredible art history book that has helped me really understand some of the iconography in Revolutionary flags and political cartoons.  It's also a really interested look at how Americans view Freedom and Liberty as two separate ideas.

Baconater of Washington also introduced me to Voices of 1776 by Richard Wheeler, which is a sort of narrative written mostly using excerpts from primary sources like journals and diaries.  The author adds just enough context to allow the reader to understand what's going on in the letters, and otherwise lets them speak for themselves.  There are some really great entries in this book around the Battle of Trenton that mean I'm always bugging Prescott to let me tell that story at our KD events.

Quick edit:  Voices of 1776 and Liberty and Freedom can both be found on archive.org!

[The Wolfhound]

May I suggest: "The Road To Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War" By J L Bell?

Another suggestion is "The Minutemen" by General John Galvin

[Tar Heel]

These are all great suggestions. Many thanks, and I'm looking forward to digging in!

[Jumpboot]

The Minute Men The first fight by Gen. John R. Glavin
It's a quick read at 270 pages but packed with good history

[Ohio Piper]

The Pilgrim Chronicles by Rod Grieg.  Detailed story of the Pilgrims as they began in England and the trials, personalities and details that formed their decision making.

[desert_diver]

I am also fond of Galvin's "The Minutemen".  I read it before my first Appleseed. 

"The Minutemen and Their World" by Robert A. Gross is a bit dated, but very good.  Gross describes the social and economic world of Concord before, during, and after the Revolutionary War.  Some of the people Fischer references in "Paul Revere's Ride", for example Joseph Hosmer, are described in much more detail in Gross' book

"A People Numerous and Armed" by John Shy.  This is a collection of essays written from ~1960 to ~1976.  All the essays are good; I think the best one is a biography of Thomas Gage.

Borneman's work on the French & Indian War is worth a read.

[scuzzy]

There are a bunch of old books in pdf available here - written in some instances in the 1800s. They are free.

https://libertyseed.org/books.html

[Tar Heel]

This is great! Thank you for the link.

[Ohio Piper]

I was unaware Liberty Seed had it's own website.  Good stuff!  Thanks for the link.