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Faces of Revolution: Personalities & Themes in the Struggle for American Independence
Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Bernard Bailyn brings us a book that combines portraits of American revolutionaries with a deft exploration of the ideas that moved them and still shape our society today.
In this elegant collection of essays, he combines lively portraits of participants in the American Revolution with deft explorations of the ideas that moved them, the circumstances that shaped them, and their goals, fears, and aspirations. Bailyn offers character studies of John Adams; Thomas Jefferson; Thomas Paine; the Tory Governor Thomas Hutchinson, who was shocked to find himself the most hated man in America; an ordinary shopkeeper who kept a vivid record of his beliefs; and three preachers whose careers show the various connections between religion and revolution.
In addition, there are essays that explore the global significance of 1776, the relation of ideas to politics, the central themes of the Revolution, and the core issues in the great debate on the ratification of the Constitution.
In this elegant collection of essays, he combines lively portraits of participants in the American Revolution with deft explorations of the ideas that moved them, the circumstances that shaped them, and their goals, fears, and aspirations. Bailyn offers character studies of John Adams; Thomas Jefferson; Thomas Paine; the Tory Governor Thomas Hutchinson, who was shocked to find himself the most hated man in America; an ordinary shopkeeper who kept a vivid record of his beliefs; and three preachers whose careers show the various connections between religion and revolution.
In addition, there are essays that explore the global significance of 1776, the relation of ideas to politics, the central themes of the Revolution, and the core issues in the great debate on the ratification of the Constitution.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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About the author
Bernard Bailyn
104 books134 followersBernard Bailyn is an American historian, author, and professor specializing in U.S. Colonial and Revolutionary-era History. He has been a professor at Harvard since 1953. Bailyn has won the Pulitzer Prize for History twice (in 1968 and 1987). In 1998 the National Endowment for the Humanities selected him for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 23, 2010
This is a fascinating collection of essays by America's preeminent Revolutionary era historian. No other historian looms as large ove the historiography of the period as Bailyn and he does not fail to live up to his usual standards here. Most of these essays, if not all, have been previously published in some form or other but to have them in one accessible volume surely justifies its publication. There are profiles of Adams, Jefferson, Hutchinson, and a New Englander named Harbottle Dorr who kept copies of every newspaper, broadside, and pamphlet he could find during the Imperial Crisis and annotated and indexed them all on his own initiative. A fascinating story made even better by Bailyn's insights.
The second section of the book is called Themes and contains some of Bailyn's most important contributions to early American history. His famous essay, "Political Experience and Enlightenment..." is reprinted here under a new title and so is his essay about 1776. Both of these essays are fundamental pieces of Revolutionary scholarship. Anyone with an interest in the period or the people will absolutely love this book and Bailyn.
The second section of the book is called Themes and contains some of Bailyn's most important contributions to early American history. His famous essay, "Political Experience and Enlightenment..." is reprinted here under a new title and so is his essay about 1776. Both of these essays are fundamental pieces of Revolutionary scholarship. Anyone with an interest in the period or the people will absolutely love this book and Bailyn.
September 25, 2011
A mixed bag of essays. I found most interesting his biographies of obscure patriots. For instance--Harbottle Dorr (for real) a shopkeeper who, starting in 1765, spent 12 years collecting, annotating and indexing newspapers and pamphlets. Then there is a Connecticut minister named Stephen Johnson, otherwise unknown, who in 1765 published both 5 newspaper articles and a pamphlet. Bailyn sees these as anticipating many of the arguments to come in the next decade.
One of Bailyn's main arguments is that the thinking of the revolutionaries had at its root English political opposition thought. On writing of the ratification of the Constitution, Bailyn argues that the Anti-Federalists used earlier arguments about parliamentary excesses in making a case against ratification.
One of Bailyn's main arguments is that the thinking of the revolutionaries had at its root English political opposition thought. On writing of the ratification of the Constitution, Bailyn argues that the Anti-Federalists used earlier arguments about parliamentary excesses in making a case against ratification.
September 18, 2020
This book, if a relatively obscure one within the author's body of work, demonstrates why it is that Bailyn is such a reliably excellent author concerning the politics of the American Revolution, and that is his ability to find the unfamiliar in the familiar, and to demonstrate the change that takes place in one's thinking when one adopts different fundamental assumptions. In a revolutionary situation, people can very easily misunderstand each other and fail to communicate because they no longer share common worldviews and frameworks for interpreting the events of their time and the other people with whom they share those times with. And that understanding of the importance of framing, and just how hard it is to get it right, allows the author to come to some very insightful observations in sketches about notable and obscure Founding Fathers as well as some of the themes that were involved in the American revolutionary experience. Naturally, as one might expect, this book is informed by the massive amount of research and writing and thinking that the author has done regarding the American Revolution, and some of the author's favorite characters from the period, like the elusive Thomas Hutchinson, make their appearance here as both figures in their own right as well as favored enemies of others.
This book is a bit more than 250 pages and it is divided into two parts and ten chapters. The first part of the book consists of various personalities that were involved in the American Revolution that the author has written intriguing sketches on, most notably relating to insights gained from the publishing of massive bodies of work about them (I). So, for example, we begin with a discussion on John Adams and the author's thoughts on the revelations found from his early diaries and the patterns of provincialism that endured (1), before moving to Thomas Jefferson's complex relationship with Europe and an intriguing interpretation of the Dialogue between Head And Heart (2). The author discusses Thomas Hutchinson and how he was viewed by others, much to his misfortune (3), before turning his attention to the logical fallacies but skill of Thomas Paine (4), as well as the intriguing index and commentaries of the obscure Harbottle Dorr (5), which is then followed by a look at the relationship between religion and revolution in three obscure American figures, namely Andrew Eliot, Jonathan Mayhew, and Stephen Johnson (6). The last four chapters of the book are taken up in a look at themes regarding the American Revolution (II), namely the transformational nature of 1776 in Britain and the United States (7), the political experience and radical ideas in 18th century America (8), the central themes of the American Revolution (9), and the ideological fulfillment of the American Revolution (10), after which there are notes to chapter 10, original publications, and an index.
In order to better understand the American Revolution, it is sometimes necessary for us to make the familiar strange and the strange familiar. The author engages in both of these tasks throughout the book, demonstrating how it was that the federalists, for example, sought to reframe the question of government so as to avoid at least some of the anarchical implications of the American Revolution by implying that the power of the federal government would not necessarily be coercive and abusive (though, as recent history has demonstrated, it needs little encouragement to be so). Likewise, the author makes the familiar strange by discussing aspects of the founding personalities that are obscure, whether it is looking at the prolonged adolescence and self-aware awkwardness of John Adams or whether it is the strange way in which Thomas Hutchinson's restraint led him to be viewed in a strangely extreme fashion simply because he was not extreme enough to make his point well understood, or whether it is through the examination of the perspective of the American founding from very obscure American patriots whose understanding of the religious motivations and background of the American revolutionary experiernce are remarkable if obscure. By and large, this book is another triumph from Bailyn in his writings about the American Revolution and its context.
This book is a bit more than 250 pages and it is divided into two parts and ten chapters. The first part of the book consists of various personalities that were involved in the American Revolution that the author has written intriguing sketches on, most notably relating to insights gained from the publishing of massive bodies of work about them (I). So, for example, we begin with a discussion on John Adams and the author's thoughts on the revelations found from his early diaries and the patterns of provincialism that endured (1), before moving to Thomas Jefferson's complex relationship with Europe and an intriguing interpretation of the Dialogue between Head And Heart (2). The author discusses Thomas Hutchinson and how he was viewed by others, much to his misfortune (3), before turning his attention to the logical fallacies but skill of Thomas Paine (4), as well as the intriguing index and commentaries of the obscure Harbottle Dorr (5), which is then followed by a look at the relationship between religion and revolution in three obscure American figures, namely Andrew Eliot, Jonathan Mayhew, and Stephen Johnson (6). The last four chapters of the book are taken up in a look at themes regarding the American Revolution (II), namely the transformational nature of 1776 in Britain and the United States (7), the political experience and radical ideas in 18th century America (8), the central themes of the American Revolution (9), and the ideological fulfillment of the American Revolution (10), after which there are notes to chapter 10, original publications, and an index.
In order to better understand the American Revolution, it is sometimes necessary for us to make the familiar strange and the strange familiar. The author engages in both of these tasks throughout the book, demonstrating how it was that the federalists, for example, sought to reframe the question of government so as to avoid at least some of the anarchical implications of the American Revolution by implying that the power of the federal government would not necessarily be coercive and abusive (though, as recent history has demonstrated, it needs little encouragement to be so). Likewise, the author makes the familiar strange by discussing aspects of the founding personalities that are obscure, whether it is looking at the prolonged adolescence and self-aware awkwardness of John Adams or whether it is the strange way in which Thomas Hutchinson's restraint led him to be viewed in a strangely extreme fashion simply because he was not extreme enough to make his point well understood, or whether it is through the examination of the perspective of the American founding from very obscure American patriots whose understanding of the religious motivations and background of the American revolutionary experiernce are remarkable if obscure. By and large, this book is another triumph from Bailyn in his writings about the American Revolution and its context.
August 29, 2017
I almost put this book down - which considering how much I love this subject, says a lot about this treatment. This random selection of academic screeds on Revolutionary history suffers from a lack of theme and narrative. There were some portions that I did enjoy - but everything was so random, it was difficult to settle into an understanding. I think the author would've been better in transforming this collection into an actual book. There is also a lot of talk about the collections of documents themselves apart from the contents of the documents -- I consider myself academically as interested as the next amateur scholar, but that's not the book I'm interested in reading. I'd say this is a pass for anyone interested in Revolutionary/Constitutional history -- there are better resources out there.
June 11, 2018
Bernard Bailyn provides a lot of detailed and authoritative context for his examination of eight principal actors and highly nuanced themes of personal, social, and institutional motivation that framed the complex dynamics of the American Revolution.
Faces of Revolution is not an easy read. Bailyn offers significant insights into the thinking and action that animated the prelude to the actual Revolution, and the substantially altered thinking and action that that created the brand new government of the brand new republic.
As always, Bailyn’s endnotes are fully detailed and they fully augment the text.
Read more of my book reviews and poems here:
www.richardsubber.com
Faces of Revolution is not an easy read. Bailyn offers significant insights into the thinking and action that animated the prelude to the actual Revolution, and the substantially altered thinking and action that that created the brand new government of the brand new republic.
As always, Bailyn’s endnotes are fully detailed and they fully augment the text.
Read more of my book reviews and poems here:
www.richardsubber.com
August 6, 2014
This is a very good book for those already familiar with the basics of the Revolution and it's key figures. This book fleshes out the bios of key figures and their struggles to bring the reader closer to understanding the world those figures lived in more accurately- a world comprised of intense uncertainty.
April 16, 2012
Bios of John Adams, Jefferson, and others. Liked chapter 6 on religionists. Last chapters present Revolution from a neo-whig view. Read all bio chapters but not all of section two stuff.
January 18, 2016
terrific set of essays on the revolutionary era.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews