This is essentially a true crime story, set in New York City not long after the American Revolution. The city is still rebuilding after much of it was destroyed, and there are still a few loyalists around. The body of a young, single woman is found in a well, located in a somewhat rural area. Read More
Tag: Ancestry
The Court-Martial of Paul Revere, by Michael M Greenburg
We’ve all heard of Paul Revere; we’ve all heard the poem. But I had never heard about the rest of his military career. Turns out, he was already working with the Committee of Correspondence before his famous horse ride. But there was even more after that, that I had not learned before. The subtitle of Read More
The Times That Try Men’s Souls, by Joyce Lee Malcolm
The subtitle of this book is, “The Adams, the Quincys, and the Battle for Loyalty in the American Revolution”. Most of us spend our time looking for ancestors who served in the Continental Army, or their state militia, or who at least performed some service on behalf of the revolution. This book is about the Read More
North Woods, by Daniel Mason
This is a fictional account of the occupants of a house, or more accurately a location, in western Massachusetts, I think, over the course of many years. The story of this one location is made up of many stories of the various occupants. It starts before there is much of a dwelling at all. There Read More
Revolutionary America, 1763-1815, edited by Francis D Cogliano & Kirsten E Phimister
This is called a Sourcebook, because it consists of various documents that were written around the time of the American Revolution. There is not a great deal of analysis of these documents, but there is an introduction for each chapter, and a brief description of each item. The documents are divided somewhat by topic, or Read More
Benedict Arnold Revolutionary Hero, by James Kirby Martin
The subtitle of this book is “An American Warrior Reconsidered”. Martin tries to look at all of Benedict Arnold’s life, not just his service in, and eventual betrayal of, the Continental Army. Some previous biographies started with the fact of his being a traitor to the Revolution, and basically decided that he must have been Read More
The Indian World of George Washington, by Colin G Calloway
The subtitle of this book is “The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation”. Calloway starts with a detailed description of the French and Indian War. And not really discussing just the battles, but going into detail about the combatants. He also discusses how and why George Washington ended up as Read More
The United States of Beer, by Dane Huckelbridge
Beer has a very long history, long before Europeans brought their versions of it to the New World. In fact, the origins of beer, and other spirits, are basically lost in the mists of time. But in the recent past, there were some differences in how beer was brewed, and what was added, both as Read More
Iron Tears, by Stanley Weintraub
The subtitle of this book is “America’s Battle for Freedom, Britain’s Quagmire; 1775-1783”. Each chapter takes a small slice of the time period, and describes mainly what is happening in England, and how the events in the colonies are impacting decisions there. One challenge was the length of time it took information to go back Read More
Revolutionary Summer, by Joseph J Ellis
The subtitle of this book is “The Birth of American Independence”. Ellis writes about the summer of 1776, in detail. There were two main aspects of the fight for American independence going on at the same time. First, the Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia, where they were about to officially declare our separation from Read More