Category: American Revolution

David Hackett Fischer writes delightful books. He expertly combines the breezy readability of a master popular historian with the professional craftsmanship and deep primary research of a top rate academic. The end result is a narrative that is at once a dazzling adventure tale and a groundbreaking piece of historiography. The adventure tale aspect of…

“The Spirit of ’76” has many positive connotations in contemporary America: liberty, freedom, and bravery foremost among them. Archibald Willard’s 19th century painting of the same name – depicting three ragged but steely-eyed and steadily advancing American soldiers…a fifer, a drummer and a flag bearer – remains an enduring symbol of national pride and power.…

had the privilege to join Eliot Cohen, the distinguished military historian and my graduate school advisor, on an extended “staff ride” exploring the 1776-1777 Lake Champlain campaign in the summer of 2001. We hiked the beautiful trails overlooking the cobalt blue waters of Champlain, discussed the merits of Benedict Arnold as a field commander on…

This certainly isn’t the book for everyone. Written a century ago, “The Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution” is one of the more influential works on the subject from an American historian in the early twentieth century (Schlesinger’s son would turn out to be even more influential on the course of American politics and historical…

Stacy Schiff is one of my favorite living historians. Another is Ron Chernow, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Alexander Hamilton.” Here is what Chernow has to say about Schiff: “Even if forced at gunpoint, Stacy Schiff would be incapable of writing a dull page or a lame sentence.” It’s true; Schiff has the unique ability…

Other historians, such as Arthur Schlesinger, have argued that the revolution had its impetus in the preservation of society, not its transformation, which is what usually defines “revolutions.” Wood claims that this assertion is misguided and limited. He concedes that the American Revolution was unique among national revolutions, but that doesn’t make it any less…

Many years back I endeavored to read a full-length biography on each of the Founding Fathers. For most, I had multiple options and several had undisputed “definitive” single volumes available, such as McCullough on Adams and Chernow on Hamilton. For Benjamin Franklin, Carl Van Doren’s 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winner was still considered the best, but I…

“A People Numerous & Armed” is a collection of twelve essays written by John Shy in the late 1960s and 1970s when he was an up-and-coming historian at the University of Michigan. In his own estimation, the themes that unite the varied pieces are “that war changes society, that strategy and military policy are aspects…

I suppose many prospective readers of “Washington’s Spies” will also be enthusiastic viewers of the AMC Original Series “Turn,” which is loosely based on the book. The key word, readers will find, is “loosely.” The core cast of characters in “Washington’s Spies” will be familiar to any faithful watcher of “Turn”: The Yale educated intelligence…