Before there could be a revolution; there was a rebellion; before patriots; there were insurgents. Challenging and displacing decades of received wisdom; T. H. Breen's strikingly original book explains how ordinary Americans―most of them members of farm families living in small communities―were drawn into a successful insurgency against imperial authority. A few celebrated figures in the Continental Congress do not make for a revolution. It requires tens of thousands of ordinary men and women willing to sacrifice; kill; and be killed. Breen not only gives the history of these ordinary Americans but; drawing upon a wealth of rarely seen documents; restores their primacy to American independence. Mobilizing two years before the Declaration of Independence; American insurgents in all thirteen colonies concluded that resistance to British oppression required organized violence against the state. They channeled popular rage through elected committees of safety and observation; which before 1776 were the heart of American resistance. American Insurgents; American Patriots is the stunning account of the insurgency that led to the nation's founding.
#2146099 in Books The University of North Carolina Press 2009-08-01 2009-08-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.90 x .84 x 5.80l; 1.01 #File Name: 0807861863336 pages
Review
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful. An Impressive Work; As Much Literature as HistoryBy Civil War HistorianI am extremely impressed with Taylor's book; which explores the real and imagined consequences of the Civil War on families in border states; where the question of secession was the most complicated and the most fraught. This book not only documents (in writing that rises to the level of great literary writing -- a rarity in young historians) the actual occurrence of split families and what they had to say for themselves; but also the psychological; moral; and political implications of families at odds with each other. That is; this book gets beyond the idea of "the brother's war" as merely a curiosity or a sentimental metaphor; and shows how the state of the society -- the relations between men and women; white and black -- itself is revealed in the experience of these families; observed in extremis.The writing; again; is extraordinary. Fans of Doris Kearn Goodwin or David McCullough will love this book; and will be pleased to know that Taylor is of the new generation of historians and likely to be around and writing for a very long time.1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A wonderful Civil War studyBy Andrew PatrickDr. Amy Murrell Taylor makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the complex reality of divided families during the American Civil War; while also pressing beyond the material circumstances of individuals' lives to explore the important symbolic weight of family metaphors in shaping contemporary and modern views of the central conflict of the nations' history. Highly recommended for scholars; students and the interested general reader.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Great book.By W. Patrick FogartyThis is a very thorough and interesting work outlining the problems that the Civil War created for families at the time. I recommend it for any history buff.
