Patrick Henry Practical Revolutionary

by Robert Douthat Meade

Textbook Binding

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Billy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable biography of an increasingly forgotten Founding Father. This volume picks up Henry's career shortly before the Revolution and is a nice mix of his political and personal life. Unfortunately there are no maps in the book, which would have been nice, given Henry's tendency to buy new homes and move periodically, especially as distances travelled had a bearing on his decisions to participate or not in certain legislative bodies. While there are unfortunately no complete or wholly reliable transcriptions of Henry's major speeches, it does seem to be an oversight to not at least have the best effort of his "Give Me Liberty" speech included as an appendix.

[Zachary Hadsell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great second volume to Meade’s biography of Patrick Henry. It’s not quite as good as the first volume but it is still an excellent read. The biography starts just before his famous “Give Me Liberty” speech and goes through his time as Virginia Governor, planter, Governor again, and Anti-Federalist proponent.

I have a new respect for Patrick Henry after reading this biography. His popularity exceeded almost every other Virginian of the time, with perhaps the exception of Washington, because he was a man of the people. He gave his life, like so many of the other founding fathers, in service to his people and his country. I wish we had recordings of his oratory, as Meade describes it as second to none.