Paul Revere's Ride
by David Hackett Fischer
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Book Reviews of Paul Revere's Ride
Book Review: The Midnight Ride
Summary: 5 Stars
In this book, David Hackett Fischer investigates Paul Revere's role in the American fight for independence in great detail. His main objective is to offer the first serious study of Paul Revere's midnight ride, what led to it, what really happened, and what followed, thereby uncovering the truth behind the tale. From research in British and American archives, it is centered around two themes. One theme is centered around the American Patriot Paul Revere and the other is centered around British General Thomas Gage. Fischer writes that Paul Revere was more than a "simple atizan", that he was a leader of the Whig movement. He was not alone on the night of April 18, 1775. In fact there were more than 60 men and women to carry the alarm. In 16 chronologically arranged chapters along with maps and appendixes, Fischer supports the fact that Paul Revere was, more than anyone else, the major figure that organized the event and set it in motion. The first few chapters of the book lay the groundwork. We learn that Paul Revere was a Whig leader who lived in Boston and owned a Foundry, a Silver Shop, and a Hardware Store. We also learn that Thomas Gage was a British General who was the commander in chief of British forces in America. The story begins on Sept. 1, 1774 when Gage and the British captured the largest supply of gunpowder in Massaschusetts. Chaos ensued and it became known as the Powder Alarm. The winter of 1774 and the spring of 1775 were spent planning by the British and preparing by the Americans. The middle chapters of the book center around the midnight ride. Late in the afternoon on April 18, 1775, the British were in Boston Harbor and were ready to march. Their movements were reported to Paul Revere and Dr. Joseph Warren. Someone very close to British command aided Warren and Revere. Evidence suggests that is was none other than Margaret Gage, wife of General Gage. Warren, Revere, and William Dawes got things organized. Revere's primary mission was not the warn the countryside. His specific purpose was to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were thought to be the objects of the British expedition. Along the way, many people helped Revere accomplish his mission. Revere was actually captured by British patrol and was freed in time to rescue Hancock and Adams(twice) and to save the secret papers of the Revolution. The British were marching from Boston to Cambridge, then on to Lexington and Concord. The minutemen were ready for them. The late chapters do well to explain what followed. The muster of the minutemen was the product of many years of development. It was the result of careful planning and a collective effort. The battles on Lexington Green were not open skirmishes, but rather a series of controlled engagements. There were six in all, with the Americans winning twice. The second battle at Concord also saw an American victory. The Americans maintained a "circle of fire" around the British and forced them to retreat. Fischer's study is a great piece of work. He has done a wonderful job in fulfilling his purpose, explaining his thesis and has supported their validity. The book vividly depicts the lives of Revere and Gage, especially Revere and supports that Revere was not alone in his efforts, that in fact it was a collective effort with many people aiding him. Their efforts helped the people of Massachusetts prepare for war. It does and wonderful job describing the events and emotions of the time period, when the colonies were declaring their independence and when innocent men and women died and risked their live fighting for that independence. Paul Revere was one of those men, and should be known as a true American Patriot. It is based on American and British archives and is footnoted efficiently and us supported by appendixes and numerous maps. Fischer's work of uncovering the truth behind the myth of Paul Revere should be recognized as a legitimate study.Book Review: Galloping Into Nationhood
Summary: 4 Stars
While many of his fellow Boston Sons of Liberty were orators and thinkers, Paul Revere was of a different stripe. As captured by David Hackett Fischer in "Paul Revere's Ride," the silversmith was a "doer." Actions spoke louder, as was the case on April 18, 1775 when he mounted the mare Brown Beauty and led a nation into being.
"His genius was to promote collective action in the cause of freedom - a paradox that lies closer to the heart of the American experience than the legendary historical loners we love to celebrate," Fischer writes. While Revere did not complete the mission he started, he set in motion a chain reaction which would create in the end something well beyond his imagining, or anyone else's.
As with "Washington's Crossing," his later history about a later chapter of the American Revolution, the title of Hackett's book is metaphorical, an individual's act that also represents a cultural shift from which there was no going back. Readers familiar with "Washington's Crossing" will recognize a similar treatment, a somewhat revisionist revisiting of the central occasion and the events immediately before and after it that nevertheless ratifies and enriches traditional interpretations.
Fischer's writing style is impressively vivid, and his narrative moves quickly. Revere's pre-ride story is dealt with fast, so he can get to the central event and give it the kind of focus to render it fresh and alive to the reader. Fischer wants us to feel just how chaotic Revere's ride and the subsequent battles of Lexington and Concord were, that while much had been planned in advance by both sides, there was little calculation and nothing was preordained.
About the "shot heard 'round the world," which triggered the first battle: "It is possible that one of the first shots was fired deliberately, either from an emotion of the moment or a cold-blooded intention to create an incident. More likely there was an accident. Firearms seemed to have a mind of their own in the 18th century."
That the colonists had minds of their own was something the British leaders in Boston did not appreciate. Gen. Thomas Gage, military governor of the colony, had an enlightened attitude for his day but called his subjects "sulky." Anticipating little trouble, the British soldiers who marched to Lexington to take away the colonists' cannonry didn't bother carting artillery of their own. Fischer notes that not only were the colonists more war-seasoned than the smartly-dressed but relatively raw Regulars they opposed, they fought with greater order, outmaneuvering the British at nearly every turn.
Fischer's book includes ample illustrations, maps, the British battle order, even the local weather and tides (Revere's ride actually began on a rowboat). As in "Washington's Crossing," Fischer offers an excellent analysis in the back of the book of the various interpretations Revere's ride was given in different periods of American life may be the most valuable and readable part of the book.
Maybe I found "Paul Revere's Ride" not as good as "Washington's Crossing" because I was expecting too darn much. But he leaves some loose ends, like the fate of a British soldier who fell victim to America's first war atrocity and a marriage which may have been sundered by America's first wartime spy. His interpretations of Revere's behavior seem at time too gushing, albeit fairer than those of Revere's detractors Fischer examines at the end of the book.
But one puts down "Paul Revere's Ride" with difficulty, and with a sense one is learning about this grammar-school chestnut for the first time, discovering it was in many ways a bigger deal than first supposed.
Book Review: "One if By Land....."
Summary: 5 Stars
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the American Revolution, and the movement leading up to it; and desires to find authors who bring it back to life for us, who make us feel we actually know the people who have given so much of themselves for the rest of us, allowing us to make it to this century where we now live in comfort and liberty due to the extraordinary motivation that paved the way for us. Accurate historical account, but aided by vivid narrative rather than structured text, it's a read that's hard to put down. I want to relive the moments, feel the rush of what must have driven them, sense the night air, the position of the moon, and the countryside moving by in the same way they must have. History written without those basic human emotions is not the same as that which is, so that is the type of book I look for and not all authors are created equal.
The amazing aforesight of advance planning and fruitation of those plans coming from those without the aid of cell phones or other modern methods of communication seems all but impossible when you consider the personal danger, the distances between, the knowledge that there was no room for error in carrying out those plans in the dead of night once they were launched, the meticulous coordination and teamwork of the Pre-revolutionists; the ability used to carry it out with but rudimentary tools, even melting down materials for their bullets in their back rooms, in the knowledge that more would surely be needed and how was that to happen.
The book gives an accounting of the Old North Church signals, the climbing of the tower on a stairway far less sturdy than what current OSHA regulations would permit, I daresay, in the dark for fear of discovery, carrying lanterns to be lit with candles after arriving at the window. It describes the wild ride to Lexington spreading the warning, the capture by the British, all written in vivid detail. It gives insight into Paul Revere's life and his importance in the pre-revolution planning and intelligence system, not simply his "midnight ride". It describes the events leading up to it, the cat and mouse games played with the British that I had all but forgotten. What passion must have moved within them to suffer such discomfort in carrying out immense acts of courage.
I hope this review will aid others in their search for wonderful books regarding the Revolution, and I myself made use of such reviews before I made the selection, so many thanks to those who took the time to do it.
Additional recommended books regarding American History:
** "Miracle at Philadelphia" by Catherine Drinker Bowen
** "Three men of Boston" by John r. galvin
** "The Adams-Jefferson Letters"
** "Jefferson" by Thomas Jefferson (Library of America)
** "American Colonies" by Alan Taylor
** "The First American" (Franklin) by H.W. Brands (Library of America)
** "1776" by David McCullough
** "John Adams" by David McCullough
** ""Defiance of the Patriots - the Boston Tea Party" - Benjamin L. Carp
Book Review: Interesting, and good, but...
Summary: 3 Stars
David Hackett Fischer explores the events immediately preceding, occurring during, and immediately following Paul Revere's Ride. He argues in his introduction that historians and academicians in general have largely ignored the extraordinary role Revere played in the development of the revolutionary movement. His book, then, seeks to bring Revere to light. In so doing, Fischer holds a magnifying glass to Massachusetts in the year 1775, and describes in astonishing detail the Whig-ish beginnings of the United States of America.
His book is a mixture of biography and military history. It has two primary foci; one, make great the name of Paul Revere; and two, delve into the militaristic proceedings of both the colonists and Britain's "Regulars." Wherever possible he tries to intertwine the two; when an event is occurring that does not involve Revere-the skirmish at Lexington, for example, he goes to great lengths to explain what Revere was doing at the time (during the skirmish, he was removing a heavy chest from a tavern). Whenever Revere is involved in the event, Fischer takes great pains to portray his role as critical.
Insofar as military history is concerned, one learns exactly why the Regulars march on Lexington and Concord failed. From mistaken assumptions about the colonists to unreceived communication from General Thomas Gage, Fischer includes it all. He provides detailed maps to show the movements of the two camps, and further illuminates the human side of the conflict with plenty of photographs, portraits, and captions. With the very small exception included in his epilogue, in which he gives brief life summaries of the main characters following the conflict, he never discusses that conflict's ramifications outside the militaristic exacerbation of the revolution.
Fischer's book is interesting for the most part, but as to its historical accuracy, this reader has some concerns. The detail of Revere's and others' movements and thoughts is so fine, one must wonder if Fischer allowed himself some historical license for the sake of readability. It does, in fact, read like Herman Wouk or Gore Vidal. One also wonders about the near deification of Paul Revere. The tone is like an overly enthusiastic response to an overly unenthusiastic academic circle. For two centuries, historians have ignored Revere; Fischer's answer is to elevate Revere to the level of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Certainly, his book is extremely well researched, perhaps enough to create a highly readable work without sacrificing any integrity whatsoever. Perhaps enough also to justify his exuberance for the man that was Paul Revere. All the same, the extents of both leave doubts in the mind of this reader.
Book Review: The Mercury of the American Revolution
Summary: 4 Stars
Seldom does an academic book reach across the aisle and become a classic of popular history as well. Mr. Fischer's "Paul Revere's Ride" does just that. "Ride" captures the reader with incredible little known anecdotes as well as flawless research and a smooth narrative flow. The theme of Fischer's book was that Revere's ride far from being a singular achievement was in reality a collective effort of a multitude of revolulutionaries throughout the colony. Simply put, in reading history, Americans must sometimes put the proverbial `rugged individualist' on the shelf and look at history as how it developed, rather then how we would like to see it happen. What attracted me to this book in the first place was Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" in which Mr. Fischer's book is cited. Revere was a man who knew everyone in Boston and moved in many different circles. We often forget that great changes are not accomplished by the sole recluse theorist writing in his study, but rather as Mr. Fischer points out by "collective responsibilities of the group dynamic." In this, Revere and his fellow Whigs rejected the sort of individualist credo that would later find it's prophet in Thomas Jefferson.
Another fascinating portrait is General Thomas Gage, the largely ineffectual and philosophical libertarian leader of the British in Boston. One is tempted to think if Gage had a little more command and control structure that he could have countered the quickness of Revere and the minutemen especially in the late night of April 18, 1775 and the early morning hours of the next day. Throughout the book, the reader may wonder why Gage chose not to have Revere and co. arrested, but Gage felt he was bound to the Constitution just as any British overseer would be. Of course, Thomas Gage did not know the ending to this story and neither did any of the Colonists. In this General Gage and his governance was just one in a long line of ineffectual imperial military forces brought to their knees by a united, close knit community. Fischer concludes his book with a variety of appendices and fascinating data about how the burgeoning revolutionaries really worked. Of note is the author's historiography of the "Ride" taking it from the Whig's attempt to suppress it for being against the myth of "national innocence" to the 1960's revisionists attempt to destroy the "Ride" as one of the most well known symbols of the dead white male. Perhaps, the last word should belong to that shining beacon of the American political landscape in the 1920's: Warren G. Harding who said: "I love the story of Paul Revere, whether he rode or not."