Patriots: The Men Who Started The American Revolution (1989) - Plot & Excerpts
“Patriots” is a resource for casual readers who want to obtain a broad overview of the American Revolution and who want to meet to its magnetic personalities. Readers who might not want to labor over a 1,000 page biography devoted to only one of the principals, but who would be willing to read 563 well-written pages of juicy narrative history, need look no further than A. J. Langguth’s “Patriots.”Writing about the American Revolution first occurred to Langguth when he was reporting from Saigon during the Vietnam War. The unconventional tactics of the National Liberation Front as its soldiers fought the most powerful nation on earth reminded him of the American Revolution. Langguth began to test the parallel by reading lots of books about the American Revolution. But he found that most complete histories were blandly neutral and read like textbooks, whereas the vivid books focused on only one aspect of the Revolution and, therefore, lacked scope. Thus, he saw the need for a short and well-written narrative history of the American Revolution.Langguth responded with “Patriots,” which approaches the Revolution as a story, focusing on the principal actors as they move from the writs–of –assistance trial in 1761 to General Washington’s resignation from the Continental Army in 1783. He writes: “The book would be meant for readers who knew that Washington crossed the Delaware, but didn’t know why; that Benedict Arnold had betrayed his country, but didn’t know how.”Langguth writes with the immediacy and freshness of the war correspondent that he once was. Here is a sample from his chapter about the Battle for New York, 1776: Washington was lashing out with his cane at the backs of the fleeing soldiers. He cursed them as “dastardly sons of cowardice” and threatened to run his sword through the next man who deserted. At one point he shamed a few hundred of the men into making a stand. But when a small unit of British soldiers appeared no more than sixty or seventy- the Americans again turned and ran, leaving Washington and his aides unprotected. Nathanael Greene thought Washington was so angry over his men’s conduct that he seemed more willing to die than to live. Other men said he threw his hat in despair and cried, “Good God, have I got such troops as those?” But Washington’s luck held and he rode away unscathed. (395) I read this book in 2011, and I was shocked at how many details about the American Revolution that I forgotten or had failed to learn after many years of studying history. The American Revolution was an amazing and improbable story. In the capable hands of this author, it is far more dramatic than anybody who does not know this story could even imagine. Today is the 237th anniversary of the founding of the USA; today is the day when I hope her citizens will revisit the moving story of her conception in liberty, her birth, and her struggle to live against all odds.
Patriots by A.J. Langguth is a non fictional history book on the American Revolution. It describes different events in that time and important people. The book is 640 pages long but a pretty easy read. It describes what each person did and the importance of them in that time in history. It shows the heroism of our founding fathers and the fight for our freedom. It mentions a time of slavery and war. Although it describes many events in history that we may know have already learned about before, it goes into greater detail to show us the good, the bad and the ugly. We see our greatest leaders struggle and we see them conquer great battles. It starts off by introducing John Adams and a couple more people like James Otis who wanted a place on the superior court. The author describes how the countrymen weren't ready just yet to attack the British crown. Then it described the outbreak of riots and more events with important leaders in the American Revolution. This is an interesting read for any high school student looking to learn more about history. It goes into detail what our leaders went through and why the outcome of these events were how they ended up. It mentioned their lives outside of politics and the choices they made. There are many, many days of history this book includes like the massacre, trails and disagreements between people on signing agreements of wanting what was best for their country. I recommend this book to anyone looking to learn more about our leaders or become more educated on what happened during the American Revolution. This book shows us victory and independence of our great country.
What do You think about Patriots: The Men Who Started The American Revolution (1989)?
This was really just a top-notch history book. Beginning with the Writs of Assistance arguments in the early 1760s and going all the way through until Washington resigns his commission in 1783, the book really explores the people involved. Their triumphs, tragedies, embarassments, fears, feelings and agendas are on display and it adds entire new layers of understanding to the entire American Revolution. It also reminds you of how precarious the entire situation was. Modern propaganda to the contrary, the Revolution was not only not divinely ordained, it almost failed nearly three-quarters of the time. The what-ifs are staggeringly fascinating.
—Shana
Patriots is a vivacious narrative history of American Revolution. Beginning with James Otis' denunciation of British tax collection in 1760, it charts the course of colonial unrest through to Washington's resignation from the Continental Army following British defeat. The book introduces a number of the prominent people who did much to forge independence, and charts the principal events of the years with a fair-handed treatment that emphasises the contingency of war. Light on dates, lighter still on causation and analysis, Langguth skilfully injects primary source material into the story, bringing an immediacy to the text, and excitement and enjoyment to the general reader.
—Edward
Great book overall, however if I were to have one issue with it it would be the fact that it does not paint a solid picture of how to revolution actually went (ups and downs). Nor did it claim that it was going to be this. It seemed to me as if there were statements made in passing about certain major events (Camden) when in reality he could have at least made it a page while still not taking away from the main focus. Not at all a good introductory work to understand the dynamics of the war, but a good book to understand some of the mental processes of the patriots. All in all, solid, but I feel like I started with Lexington, and just BAM! ended with Yorktown. For me, it made the war out to be almost easy in a sense which any lover of history beyond a high school history textbook knows it absolutely was not.In the end, it's not like he didn't come through on claims he makes; he never makes them, but he could have done a better job of framing the entire revolution even if it added fifty or so pages.
—Adrian Rutt
