Seven Days in June

by Howard Fast

No one has written more passionately and vividly about the American Revolution than Howard Fast. The author's eight novels that take our fight for freedom as their theme include such classics as Citizen Tom Paine, April Morning, and The Hessian. In Seven Days in June he brings to life the Battle of Bunker Hill so the reader feels that he is actually there and is experiencing the story for the first time. This novel portrays both the American and British points of view of the battle for the control of Boston in June 1775, whose outcome would dramatically influence the strategies of George Washington and Sir William Howe for the rest of the war. Fast offers acid-etched portraits of the four British generals: Howe, John Burgoyne, Thomas Gage, and Henry Clinton, as well as their wives and paramours. He also evokes, in an unforgettable way, the American revolutionaries: Israel Putnam, William Prescott, Artemus Ward, Dr. Joseph Warren, Richard Gridley, and others. The central figure and hero is the fictional character Dr. Evan Feversham, a surgeon who ministered to the wounded in three horrific European wars and who fled England to America where he sought freedom. Most dramatic of all is the battle for Breed's and Bunker hills. A couple of hundred American men and boys are ensconced behind a hastily built redoubt. They fight in the fashion they learned from the American Indians, facing three thousand soldiers of the mightiest army on earth as the enemy begins his ascent up the steep hills that lead to the ragtag rebel army. The British soldiers are led by the grenadiers who, in lines of 32 men, one hundred feet wide, with bayonets fixed, appear like veritable giants. With their great bearskinshakos atop their heads, they were close to seven feet tall, their packs and blanket rolls making them even more menacing. Leading the advance were the tiny drummer boys, all children, in keeping with the British conviction that age did not put any loyal subject of the Crown out

Genres: American Revolution

191 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1994

About the author

Howard Fast was one of the most prolific American writers of the twentieth century. He was a bestselling author of more than eighty works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and screenplays. The son of immigrants, Fast grew up in New York City and published his first novel upon finishing high school in 1933. In 1950, his refusal to provide the United States Congress with a list of possible Communist associates earned him a three-month prison sentence. During his incarceration, Fast wrote one of his best-known novels, Spartacus (1951). Throughout his long career, Fast matched his commitment to championing social justice in his writing with a deft, lively storytelling style.

Pseudonyms: Walter Ericson, E.V. Cunningham

Reviews

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this really interesting and it made me feel like crying. (Not in a sentimental way, but in a tragedy of war way.) I'm going to have to put a lot more American Revolutionary War history on my reading list.

A warning this is brutal and has quite a bit of profanity & some sex.

[Mike R · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting historical fiction book on the Battle of Bunker/Breed's Hill. This would be a good book for someone who does not like reading traditional history books, but wants to gain some knowledge regarding this battle at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The author tried to stay as authentic as possible with the main characters and the battle is seen through the eyes of a fictional doctor at the battle.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the way the auther dramatized this account of bunker hill. This was a very satisfying read about the start of the american revolution.