Synopsis
The story of the American Revolution starring the many men and women from various cultural backgrounds who made significant contributions in the fight for independence.
The dimensions of the patriot cause during the American Revolution were far more multicultural and multiethnic than we have for so long believed. Women, African Americans, Jews, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, European immigrants, and young adults played leading roles in the struggle for independence from Great Britain. Today it seems students and teachers want to know more about the past than what a few famous white men did. They want to understand how women and men of different cultures and backgrounds contributed to our early history, and to making America what it is today.
Reviews
Grade 4-6–With an open layout and clean typeface, this clearly written title is attractive and inviting. Five chapters cover the contributions of a wide range of participants: non-English leaders (who were Irish, Scottish, French, Dutch, Jewish, Black, German, and Native American); African Americans; Native Americans; women; and young people. Numerous well-placed period reproductions, many full page, extend the text; captions add significantly to the information imparted. Initial mention of patriots' names appears in goldenrod. The picture-book format may turn away older readers who would certainly benefit from the interesting content, so booktalking may be required to move the book off the shelves. More general than and serving as an introduction to titles on specific groups, such as Clinton Cox's Come All You Brave Soldiers: Blacks in the Revolutionary War (Scholastic, 1999) or Shirley Ray Redmond's Patriots in Petticoats: Heroines of the American Revolution (Random, 2004), Fleming's sound offering is an excellent starting point for discussions of the implications of the Revolutionary War in terms of freedom for all people.–Ann Welton, Helen B. Stafford Elementary, Tacoma, WA
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Fleming is a historian who goes directly to the heart of a story by focusing on individuals, and he relates his facts with energy, simplicity, and a gift for vivid detail. The American Revolution was won not by a small group of transplanted Englishmen but by Irish, Dutch, French, African, and Indian peoples--Americans all. Fleming introduces readers to many unsung heroes and heroines. Who knew about Agent 13, a beautiful New Yorker whose real name is still not known; or the Irish tailor, Hercules Mulligan, who spied for Washington while outfitting the British? Many people barely into their teens served the revolution, including Joseph Collins, who wrote in his diary how many shots he fired in each battle. Captions to the handsomely reproduced historical paintings add both visual and intellectual color to the text. GraceAnne DeCandido
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