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The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence (Library of America)
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List Price: $40.00
Special Price: $26.40
Your Savings: $ 13.60 ( 34% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Library of America
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.3
EAN: 9781883011918
ISBN: 1883011914
Label: Library of America
Manufacturer: Library of America
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 874
Publication Date: 2001-04-01
Publisher: Library of America
Release Date: 2001-03-29
Studio: Library of America
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Editorial Reviews:
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Drawn from letters, diaries, newspaper articles, public declarations, contemporary narratives, and private memoranda, The American Revolution brings together over 120 pieces by more than 70 participants to create a unique literary panorama of the War of Independence. From Paul Revere's own narrative of his ride in April 1775 to an account of George Washington's resignation from command of the Army in December 1783, the volume presents firsthand all the major events of the conflict-the early battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill; the failed American invasion of Canada; the battle of Saratoga; the fighting in the South and along the western frontier; and the decisive triumph at Yorktown.
Famous figures-Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Benedict Arnold, John and Abigail Adams-are here alongside lesser known participants like Samuel Blachley Webb describing courage and panic at Bunker Hill or Sarah Hodgkins writing longingly to her absent soldier husband. American Loyalists and British officers and officials serving in America provide provocative insights into the losing side of an epochal conflict.
The American Revolution includes a chronology of events, biographical and explanatory notes, and an index.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: An amazing book
Comment: This book is like having our founding fathers in the room and talking to you. It's history as told by the participants, not filtered through another author's interpretations. If you care about our country and want to know what really happened, read this book. You'll come away understanding why we fought the war of independence, and you'll also see the roots of both the Bill of Rights and the Civil War as well. I've given away perhaps 10 copies of this book to judges, attorneys and politicians and they all rave about it. Open your mind and find out what really happened to make our country great.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Source Documents of our Revolution with great helps
Comment: No matter what you have learned about the American Revolution, this terrific volume from the wonderful Library of America will give you a richer understanding of how it happened and who was involved and when. It is full of documents that are contemporary with key events of the Revolution from various points of view. They are from diaries, newspapers, letters, speeches, key official documents, excerpts from books, and so on.
Of course, part of the problem of reading contemporary documents is that the non-specialist will need some helps to put them in context, understand who wrote them, who the key participants are, and so on. The editor has provided a very fine chronology of the War, Biographical Notes, Notes on the Texts, Explanatory Notes, an index, and a surprisingly helpful table of contents.
The documents are presented chronologically with the dates along the top of the page. You can read it front to back or jump into it here or there. While this volume will enrich your understanding of and appreciation for our Founding, it will also provide a jumping off point for further study. Since these are all source documents that historians use in their writings, having read them will allow you to read secondary writings on our founding with more authority and their biases and any agenda they have will stand out more clearly as your read their work.
A must have for your American History shelf.
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Summary: A New Understanding of Our Past and Many Surprises
Comment: When I finished this book I had a new understanding of the Revolutionary War. The book contains writings from all perspectives about all aspects of our fight to be born as a nation. At the end I felt a real sense of suprise in my new understanding of what this struggle meant to the participants as it was occurring.
The Library of America makes an excellent book with first class binding and paper. They also get the highest marks for scholarship. The editors of this volume used all contemporary sources and documented them carefully. At the same time they produced an entertaining book on a subject that has been covered in thousands of volumes.
As I read the accounts from privates and generals and everyone in between I was suprised by the high level of literacy of all parties. They all expressed different points of view with a level of articulateness that is missing in most of the writing of today. I learned a new appreciation for the letter as a means of communication. An amusing suprise was the spelling of that era, which was not was not near as uniform as today.
Reading this book gives an insight into the experience of the revolutionary war that is unique. I have read many volumes on the political and military history of that era without gaining the understanding of the events I gathered from this book. If you are interested in the subject at all reading this volume is an investment of time well worth the effort.
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Summary: Mosaic that tells the full story
Comment: Fantastic collection of sources (American, Tory, Whig, British, etc) that tells the chronological tale of the American Revolution. Troop movements, political undertones, the effects on the communities, the horrors and kindnesses of villains and heroes, and the full kaleidoscope of the human experience are generously provided here. The book moves from the ride of Paul Revere to the moving resignation of Washington's commission, a very dramatic narrative pieced together skillfully by a wide variety of independent accounts.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Get to know everyone who was there for the Revolution...
Comment: This book not only has a lot of important names in it (I won't repeat them here), it also has letters from people of lower ranks, or townsfolk. You not only get to know what the generals and officers were thinking, but you also get to know what the people in the soon-to-be United States were doing and thinking. There is an incredible diary from a 14 year old girl included in the collection. She recounts the officers who were quartering in her home and what she thought of them and what she thought in general. Her original orthography is preserved as much as possible. Also included are various diaries of people who lived in the areas where battles or troop movements were taking place. Much insight into what life must have been like during the Revolution can be gleaned from these. There are also glimpses of the violence of warfare in those days through the letters and diaries of the people who were surrounded by it.This collection is made doubly valuable by its comprehensiveness. You'll read the big names, but also quite a bit of the lesser known ones. Each author also has a biography which can be referenced in an appendix of notes, so you know what happened to them. An amazing collection of the famous and the not so famous of the American Revolution.
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