Customer Reviews

The History of the American Revolution

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Despite this book being written just shortly after the American Revolution, it is surprisingly modern in thought and attitude. It is also the very best book I've ever read on the American Revolution and really helped me to understand it much more clearly. Here is why I liked it: 1) Ramsay gives you a very clear and understandable situation of the colonies prior to the Revolution; it all now becomes crystal clear in the reader's ming; 2) he also gives you a very easy understanding of the events that led up to war and why they occurred; 3) he provides a good account of what our political leaders were doing during the war, and he provides an equally clear picture of the English king and politicians, especially the British Parliament; 4) he never says Benjamin Franklin but always Dr. Franklin, and makes you realize the power and respect that, may I say it, Ben Franklin had at the time both here and in England, making you wonder why he wasn't elected the first president; 5) he shows you the power of lawyers (no lawyer jokes here) and how, without them, we would never have gotten our independence; 6) he wonders about the same environmental problems we worry about today, causing the reader to feel he is ahead of his time, and, 7) most importantly, the accounts of battles, big and small, and especially how the civil population tolerated all this goings-on or opposed it... Despite some of his contemporaries saying Ramsay plagerized [sp] parts of the book, I really didn't care since it flows so well, presenting so clear a picture of events and an understanding of those events.

My hope was to learn about the major battle.
This book provides far more than that; namely,
a breadth of context that situates the war within
the situation that permits its meaning to emerge.

As stated in the title, what the book covered in almost its entirety were the major events leading up to the beginning of the American Revolution. Although the book was written in 1789 by an American colonist his opinions on such matters as taxation and the various legal issues that were the seeds of the conflict are unbiased. He does a great job of relaying the mixed feelings of the colonists and the native peoples of the "mother country". Excellent perspective from which to study the conflict and its key actors. The type takes a little getting used to because of the grammar and the use of the letter "f" in place of "s" but after a few pages you don't even notice. I would not recommend this book for the average reader looking for information on the war but if you are interested in a well researched and first hand account of the details then its the book for you.

The author was a member of congress and professes that he had access to documents and information that was essential to writing an accurate account. Be advised though, I ordered this book not knowing that it is only volume one of a two volume collection.

i have not read this through yet. This download begins with the battles of 1777 and is part 2 of this series. My early impression of part 2 is that it looks good and will be a very interesting read. It would be nice to find part 1 though.