Igniting the American Revolution:1773-1775

 

by Derek W. Beck  (read by Jonathan Davis)

 

 

 

 

 

Where a few zealots push the colonies into rebellion

So, here's a question for you. Had you been alive in the 1770s and living in the British colonies of North America would you have sided with the Sons of Liberty or remained loyal to the Crown? Not that the author was really asking that question, but it is something that has popped into my mind as I sit down to write this blurb.

I have never really given it much thought. I was raised on the "creation myth" (Independence good, Crown bad) and have never really looked at it or talked about in any other way.  I grew up in the Philadelphia area, visited Independence Hall many times, so the War of Independence was local history. I have read a number of books about the Founding Fathers but I have never really given much thought to the Loyalists or to their position. 

So, to answer my own question, where would my sympathies have lain, I don't really have an answer.  I suppose that a lot of it would have to do with my own position in the community and what my life was like. Was I a city dweller or farmer? Was I rich or poor? Which colony was I living in? Etc., etc.

But back to the book. This is the first of a couple of books that Beck has written about the American Revolution. It covers mostly events in and around Boston from the Boston Tea party to Lexington & Concord -- but does not fail to mention the Boston Massacre or spend some time  with the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. It covers the political issues of that period as well as a fairly detailed account of events in and around Lexington & Concord in April 19, 1775.

All in all, three and half stars