Liberty!: The American Revolution - Hardcover

Fleming, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670870218 ISBN 13: 9780670870219

Publisher: Viking Adult, 1997

Synopsis

A companion to the PBS series to be broadcast beginning in October 1997, a chronicle and analysis of the American Revolution documents twenty-five years of debate, rebellion, war, and peace and includes three hundred color illustrations. 85,000 first printing. BOMC, History, & QPB Main. TV tie-in.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas Fleming is a distinguished historian and the author of numerous critically acclaimed and bestselling novels. His masterpiece, The Officers’ Wives, was an international bestseller with over two million copies sold. His novels Time and Tide and Liberty Tavern were both New York Times bestsellers. He is also the author to the award-winning PBS mini-series Liberty! The American Revolution. A decade ago Fleming was elected a Fellow of the Society of American Historians. He writes frequently for American Heritage Magazine and is contributing editor of the Quarterly Journal of Military History. His most recent non-fiction novel is Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Future of America. Thomas Fleming lives in New York City.

Reviews

YA?This well-written companion volume to the PBS series of the same name contains information on the causes of the war and its major events, battles, and personalities. In addition, Fleming has inserted numerous sidebars on a variety of subjects that range from everyday life to espionage to the roles played by women, Jews, and slaves. The book is easy to read and moves quickly enough to hold the interest of casual readers, but contains enough detail for reports. It is profusely illustrated with well-placed, full-color paintings and reproductions. A minor flaw in this otherwise gem of a book is the lack of maps showing the location of the events discussed.?Robert Burnham, R. E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Bestselling historian and novelist Fleming (Remember the Morning, p. 1049) offers a solid popular history of America's era of unrest, revolution, and constitutional government (176389) in this lavishly illustrated companion volume to a three-part PBS series airing in November. How to make a familiar story into something new? Fleming starts from an old but often forgotten historical perspective--the idea that individuals matter--by personifying English folly and American resistance in two men named George. In contrast to histories centered more on American responses, Fleming stresses the role of the young King George III, who alienated able ministers such as William Pitt, sought out toadies to head his government, and rammed confiscatory tax (and increasingly anti-American) policies through an unrepresentative, corrupt Parliament. In contrast, the drive for American liberty was spearheaded by the incorruptible George Washington, who accepted civilian control of the military (despite his constant complaints about Congress) and continually renounced opportunities to become a Cromwellian dictator. Although Fleming includes an affectionate portrait of Benjamin Franklin, he concentrates his account on military events, with gripping details on key battles (e.g., when falling sleet ruined much of his men's gunpowder just before the battle of Trenton, Washington gave the order to use the bayonet). Numerous sidebars highlight such matters as daily life in the late colonial period (only 200 out of 3,500 practicing doctors in America on the eve of revolution had medical degrees), the evolution of ``Yankee Doodle,'' the war's high casualty rate, and the long-neglected role of such racial/ethnic groups as the Irish, Jews, and blacks (a group that by 1779 comprised almost 15 percent of America's army). The book's one irony, given its title, is that Fleming devotes little attention to the differing conceptions of liberty throughout the colonies. Lacking in analytical depth, but packed with narrative insight into personalities and often delicious minutiae. (300 color illustrations) (Book-of-the-Month Club main selection; History Book Club selection) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Adult
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670870218
• ISBN 13: 9780670870219
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400