David Price's Blog

Russell Shorto's new book, "Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom," is a superbly written work that skillfully interweaves the stories of several individuals, from the most prominent to the generally obscure, who were caught up in the revolutionary upheaval that engulfed Great Britain's North American colonies in the 1770's. I found it to be a real page-turner and perhaps the most enjoyable history of this subject that I've encountered. It's a real pleasure to recommend this to anyone who loves to read history (or perhaps anything else), regardless of their level of interest in the American Revolution.

Alan Taylor's latest work, "American Revolutions," is almost breathtaking in its scope. It is an extraordinarily comprehensive history of the political and social turmoil that engulfed North America in the late 18th century and how it impacted every segment of the population. This is an unvarnished account that takes the bark off the story of America's struggle for independence. It is informed by a focus on the often brutal reality that confronted those affected by the developments of the 1770s and 1780s - particularly the Loyalists, Native Americans, and enslaved and free African Americans who were forced to cope with the rise of the Patriot movement, an eight-year-long conflict between the Patriot forces and the British empire, and the emergence of a union of independent states that formed the basis of a new republic.

The author's narrative debunks the traditional notions of our revolutionary enterprise as an idealistic and heroic venture. Much of it was bloody and cruel, and a great many people suffered in that effort. Even so, I think America's revolution compares favorably with others - France, Russia, and China - from the standpoint of being a less violent transition and advancing democracy. I'm hard-pressed not to believe that there was something heroic in the struggle for political and economic self-determination that the Revolution represented, however imperfect the results were generally and especially for certain groups whose legitimate aspirations were ignored (women) or suppressed (slaves) at the time.

Jon Meacham's 2012 study of the Sage of Monticello is the best Jefferson biography I've read and one that provides a counterweight to Ron Chernow's work on Hamilton in terms of giving the reader a balanced perspective on the struggle between the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans (and specifically these two political icons) in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Meacham's effort is notable for the very humanizing way in which he treats his subject. This is clearly a sympathetic portrait of a very complex figure whose reputation has been somewhat tarnished in recent years by revelations about his relationship with Sally Hemings and his failure to act on his anti-slavery convictions after unsuccessful attempts in that regard during his early political career. (For myself, I have always been leery of judging historical figures by our current normative criteria.) The dominant impression one is left with is Jefferson's need to exercise power and control in both his personal and public lives, and the singular insight gained by this reader was the degree to which the third President employed the powers of his office in an expansive way that one might not have expected from a celebrated advocate for limited government. This is the third book of Meacham's that I've read (the others being "Franklin and Winston" and "Destiny and Power"), and they are all superbly written. I think I like this one the best and am pleased to recommend it without reservation.

I have cited to "Scars of the Revolution" in the course of adding material to my current project, a book about the "Ten Crucial Days" of the American Revolution that is intended as a companion volume to the recently published "Rescuing the Revolution: Unsung Patriot Heroes and the Ten Crucial Days of the American Revolution" (Knox Press, 2016). I think Hoock's analysis is helpful in understanding the level of intensity at which the conflict was waged and the extent to which it pervaded the lives of noncombatants in certain areas and at certain times in the struggle.

This British historian's new book, "Scars of Independence: America's Violent Birth" is an outstanding work of history, impeccably researched, deeply informed, and superbly written. It's one of those works that can profoundly impact the reader's perspective on a historical event or epoch. Holger enhances one's sense of the degree to which the revolutionary struggle was truly America's first civil war and the impact it had on the various overlapping populations caught up in the insurrectionary turmoil: patriots, loyalists, Native Americans, African Americans, combatants, and civilians. The author has given us an enormously important addition to the Revolutionary War literature, and his effort merits an emphatic recommendation.