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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Some other reviewers are missing the point..., August 26, 2008
Some of the reviewers critical of this book are missing the point. The author does indeed debunk some of the mythic events of our revolutionary past. However, his purpose is NOT to prove that the founders were somehow evil, or to argue that the US is not a great nation, or to make young Americans cynical, or even to show off by attacking other historians.
Rather, he's arguing that the founding myths-- the amazing (and often fictional) achievements of people like Paul Revere, Molly Pitcher, Patrick Henry, etc.-- obscure an important reality: The American Revolution was one of the broadest-based political movements in human history, and all of the patriots who participated deserve credit, not just the "heroes."
Why does this matter at all? Because the genius of the American idea is that we are both a nation of "the people" and a nation of individuals. Focusing on individual accomplishments obscures the truly amazing nature of the accomplishments of the founding generation as a collective whole.
Further, some of the myths Raphael debunks actually distort our history in important ways. For example, the myth that the Revolution essentially ended with the British surrender at Yorktown denies the important reality that the fighting continued for more than a year afterward, and the outcome was very much in doubt for that whole time. The myth that all of the fighting in the Revolution was British vs. American patriots ignores the reality that in the southern colonies, the Revolution was a vicious civil war between American loyalists and American patriots, a struggle that was to have consequences for the next hundred years.
Those who see this book as the explication of some sort of egalitarian bias are welcome to their views. However, the simple fact is that Raphael is correct. All of his analyses and assertions are supported by ample documentation, and I'd be interested in seeing the sources that the reviewers who are attacking him are relying on.
This book is well worth reading and thinking about. I recommend it highly.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Solid Historical Research, June 17, 2008
This review is from: Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past (Paperback)
Often it takes time for history to prevail over mythology, but it can happen, as this author proves. The book is well documented, and the references check out. The one-star reviews speak for themselves - neither really addresses any of the issues raised in any substantive manner.
Yes, Americans have generated their own mythology surrounding what Americans consider to be key events or key instruction points in their history. No surprise there - every nation does that. (The Serbs still celebrate a massive defeat on the plains of Kosovo in 1389, almost 620 years ago!)
The author's point is that the truth actually reveals more about what is most laudable in the American character than do the myths. He argues quite convincingly that the truth is both more interesting and more worthy of remembrance than are the myths. His arguments are thoroughly footnoted and his sources are well documented.
I will not spoil the book for those who have not yet read it, but I do highly recommend it to any and all who are more interested in truth than in mythology.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pay attention to the subtitle., April 25, 2009
This review is from: Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past (Paperback)
This book is subtitled "Stories That Hide our Patriotic Past", which is an important theme of the book. The author contends that the myths that have been created about the Revolutionary War and its heroes obscure the real story and overshadow the important contributions of countless unsung patriots. Unfortunately, some chapters do degenerate into a populist, left leaning, screed that has prompted some reviewers to trash this book. However, on balance, I found the information provided far outweighed the chapters that degenerated into a screed. The author is careful to document when and why these myths were created and how they have been incorporated into textbooks and how this incorporation has changed over time. I found this documentation to be very important, since without it the author might just be substituting one myth for another.
Some of the myths are well known to be myths, with little or no historical foundation. The story of Molly Pitcher and that of young George Washington chopping down the cherry tree fall into this category. Other stories are not myths ser se, but rather are simplifications that distort the actual historical fact. The idea that the Revolutionary War ended with the victory at Yorktown is an example of this type of "myth". Fighting continued after this battle, and ten times more American soldiers died after Yorktown than died in the battle itself. A good history points out that the peace treaty was not arrived at until September of 1783, 25 months after the victory at Yorktown, but the fighting during these 25 months (a civil war in the Southern Colonies/States between Patriots and American Loyalists) is often overlooked. The civil war aspects of the war are often replaced by the myth of solidarity of the colonists against Britain. The book also discusses, in some detail, the world-wide character of the war and that in many respects the fighting in India and a possible invasion of Britain by France and Holland was much more important than the war in America.
The author tries to dispel the myth that Samuel Adams single handedly directed the people of Massachusetts to rebel. His theses is not only that is this not the case, but it obscures the fact that in 1774, in response to the Massachusetts Government act (which deprived the locally elected governments of most of their powers and prevented people from gathering in town meetings without the approval of British appointees)thousands of farmers and tradesmen, independent of Adams, moved to oust these British appointees. Not only did Adams not direct these actions, he disapproved of them. Thus, the myth of the importance of one man obscured the much more important actions of thousands. The author also tackles the idea that Jefferson single-handedly created the idea of Independence. There is a side-by-side comparison of George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Declaration of Independence, showing that Jefferson just put Mason's ideas in a much more poetic format. Furthermore, many of the delegates came to Philadelphia with instructions to vote for independence and did not need Jefferson's prodding to do so. Also, the idea of July 4th being the important (mythic) date is shown to be somewhat of a simplification. The important thing was the ratification of the declaration by the individual colonies, which was not completed for 19 more days. The bulk of the signings by individuals did not occur until August (and in a few cases much later) and that some of these signers were not even at the convention. Again the point is not that July 4th is not important, but the choosing of a somewhat arbitrary date makes the history easier to tell, but obscures the fact that it was the individual colonial legislatures that declared independence, not just a group of 56 signers.
Some the most controversial aspects of the book are the chapters discussing the participation of Indians and slaves in the war and how they faired after the war was over. These chapters are important, but offend many because of what is easily perceived as a left-wing anti-US bias. While I agreed with some of what the author was trying to say, I felt that he was guilty of some of the same simplifications that he rails against.
I would recommend this book to those who are interested in a more nuanced presentation of the Revolutionary War and those who have been designated as its heroes. For some, however, pointing out that some of their most cherished ideas are little more than myths will be unsettling.
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