Revolutionary America Book Review

Determining how to interpret the information offered by an author, or even compiled by an editor or academic team, has always been a primary challenge for the student of history. As the novice history student begins to work through a text, it is rarely an early thought that what they are reading may or may not reflect what actually happened. It may be little more than truth the size of a grain of mustard seed, with a fresh coating of bias dribble intended to sell the text, rather than edify the reader. The first question asked by every student of history should be, “Am I reading the first, best source for applicable information on this topic? Then, “Have I considered as much available collateral information, which may add valued facts, additional…show more content…
Nash offers the reader the opportunity to better appreciate a more complete historical picture of the near-forgotten events, documents, and passions, which place historical events in a more complete and accurate context.
The many side-lined events, would-be second tier individuals, and varied political agendas that motivated insurrection against the British Crown in Colonial America are critical to appreciate what drove these people to a common cause. In Revolutionary America, Kierner published An Account of a Stamp Act Riot (1765). This primary source document was a letter written by New York Lieutenant Governor Cadwallader Colden, as a personal account of the actions he witnessed during a riot by Colonialists in opposition to the British Stamp Act, enacted on November 1, 1765. As an eye witness to the event, the Governor documented not only the vile…show more content…
The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and The
Struggle to Create America. New York: Viking, 2005.

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[ 1 ]. Gary B. Nash, The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and The Struggle to Create
America (New York: Viking, 2005), 44-45, 46-49, 59, 151, 157-158, 159-160, 171-175, 202-204, 205, 206.
[ 2 ]. Cynthia A. Kierner, Revolutionary America 1750-1815: Sources and Interpretations (New Jersey: Prentice Hall,
2003), 102-103; originally from Gouverneur Morris to Thomas Penn, May 20, 1774, in Peter Force, ed., American Archives, 4th ser., 6 vols. Washington, D.C., 1837-1853, I: 324-343.
[ 3 ]. John Hollitz, Thinking Through The Past: A Critical Thinking Approach To U.S. History (Stamford, Connecticut:
Cengage Learning, 2015), 5th ed., Vol. I, 69.
[ 4 ]. Kierner, 74-75.
[ 5 ]. Ibid., 74-75.
[ 6 ]. David Hawke, ed., U.S. Colonial History: Reading and Documents (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 1996),
405-406; originally from John Holt to Mrs. Benjamin Franklin, February 15, 1766, Franklin Papers, XLVIII: 92.
[ 7 ]. Ibid., 92.
[ 8 ]. Herbert Aptheker, ed., A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States from Colonial