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Raphael makes a compelling case that these early events were critical to the success of the war that followed and should no longer escape our notice.
Praise for Ray Raphael’s A People’s History of the American Revolution:
The best single-volume history of the Revolution I have read.
A cracking good read. . . . Ray Raphael writes about the American Revolution as if he had been in the thick of it. His no nonsense approach and style clarify the big issues and reveal their personal dimensions. This is truly history of the people for the people.
The First American Revolution
Before Lexington and Concord
paperback
$15.95 / £10.95
According to the traditional telling, the American Revolution began with “the shot heard round the world.” Now in paperback, Ray Raphael’s The First American Revolution uses the wide-angle lens of a people’s historian to tell a surprising new story of America’s revolutionary struggle.
In the years before the battle of Lexington and Concord, local people—men and women of common means but of uncommon courage—overturned British authority and declared themselves free from colonial oppression, with acts of rebellion that long predated the Boston Tea Party. In rural towns such as Worcester, Massachusetts, democracy set down roots well before the Boston patriots made their moves in the fight for independence. Richly documented, The First American Revolution recaptures in vivid detail the grassroots activism that drove events in the years leading up to the break from Britain.
Ray Raphael is the author of numerous books, including A People’s History of the American Revolution; An Everyday History of Somewhere; Men From the Boys; and Tree Talk. He lives in northern California.
Spring 2003
paperback
5 1/2 x 8 1/4, 288 pages
978-1-56584-815-3
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