Posted on 10/30/2010 5:46:55 PM PDT by Hojczyk
author did a great job, June 28, 2010 By Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME) This review is from: American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People (Hardcover) I had always heard about the common Patriots who during the American Revolution worked to remove any vestige of Imperial authority, who tarred and feathered tax collectors, hounded Loyalists, and quickly organized militia units when the fighting reached their corner of the country, but nonetheless they do not figure highly (if at all) in most histories of the war. In this book, author and historian T.H. Breen works to rectify that! The author takes you through the first few years of the unraveling of Imperial authority in America, showing how law-abiding people who professed to love the British Empire came to consider the Empire a system of oppression that needed to be opposed at all costs.
I must say that I found this to be a fascinating book. The author did a great job of showing how the American populace spontaneously radicalized, and how the steps the British government took were entirely counter-productive. It really is an interesting look into what the common people were doing during the Revolution and how they did it.
An interesting thought I had while reading this book was how similar the radicalization of the people was back then to the recent radicalization that seemed to spontaneously create the Tea Party movement. During the Revolution, the government blamed the newly emergent media (newspapers) for misleading the lumpen masses, who charged off and acted irresponsibly on subjects they did not understand. Nowaday, the government blames the newly emergent media (talk-radio & the Internet) for misleading the lumpen masses, who charge off and act irresponsibly on subjects they do not understand! I won't push this subject too far, it's just that some similarities did strike me.
The routine routing of Tories and killing or running them out of the county is not covered because it ain’t pretty, necessary though it was. I’ve got some family history that would horrify proponents of the prettied-up version of our Revolution. Tory sentiment ran in communities, as did Patriot sentiment. There was an element of ancestry and church affiliation, too. NC might have been unique in this regard, but I doubt it.
The insane media thinks the American people are the ‘Far Right’ fanatics.
read this book in the summer and got the same message. could history repeat itself? great book on early american history.
Your absolutely right. The American Revolution was really the first American civil war and like all such wars it was ugly because it was personal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.