A Few Bloody Noses

Finally finished this one. I don't know why it took so long. It was a great read. There weren't any huge revelations in it for me, and it didn't read like revisionist history. It seemed complete, thorough and accurate. I especially enjoyed the emphasis on the politics leading up to the revolution and concluding the revolution. Samuel Adams, referred to in the book as "the real Father of the Country" was quite the character. The battles are accurately portrayed and their social and political context laid out quite well. Robert Harvey, the author, quite correctly calls Yorktown a French victory, which does go against the grade school level of history that most people follow.

One of the more interesting parts of the book was the aftermath of the Revolution. Harvey calls, and I think appropriately, the constitutional convention a counter revolution by the extreme conservative faction within the revolutionists. They convened, independently of Congress, with a collection of self-appointed individuals, no nominations or elections as so recently seen in Iraq to create the convention. Said convention then created a document that roundly peeved the founders of the revolution since it established a strong, central government, stronger even than British rule had been. This was this forced on to the larger states by the smaller ones, by the country on to the city. Yes, even at the founding of the country, the cities were more collectivist and the country-side more conservative.

I think Mr. Harvey is unnecessarily harsh on the US for its treatment of Indians and Slaves (which was quite brutal in both cases). He implies or states outright that the harsh treatment of these groups was a uniquely American phenominon not originating within French or English peoples. Strange when one considers that, prior to the successful revolution, "Americans" were just English, French & German settlers, all operating under some sort of home rule (except for the Germans).

Overall though, this was a great read and really interesting history.