Patriots

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Summary: How Sam Adams started the American Revolution.
Review: As a lifelong history buff I thought I knew how the American Revolution began. I didn't, not until I read PATRIOTS, The Men Who Started the American Revolution. For the first time I was INSIDE the political actions, you might say the political conspiracy, that brought America to independence. Finally, and in full-color, I could see how Sam Adams sparked a handful of activists to struggle for years through all kinds of adversity to awaken the American People to their own rights, and to the need to defend them. Sam Adams, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, John Adams, George Washington and others come to life as human-beings and as "political animals" in this incredible pean to the power of the individual to change the world. This fascinatingly readable book takes all the boredom out of history. If you read only one book on the American Revolution in your whole life, make it this one.

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Summary: A Wealth of Information
Review: How delightful it is to find so many well written and priceless stories of the events leading up to and including the American Revolution. Langguth has done a tremendous service for anyone wanting to learn more about the events of the revolution or for anyone simply wanting a quick reference to specific events.

The book covers significant events in chronological order, beginning with James Otis and his 1761 court battle against the British Writs of Assistance, through General Washington's farewell to his staff at the conclusion of the revolution.

This is the first I have read of Langguth and I am most impressed with his no nonsense style that cuts right to the facts, but does so without making it read like a textbook. If there is anything at all missing from this fine work, it would be the inclusion of some of the historic battles on the southern front such as Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse, which are regrettably omitted. There is a group of patriots who fought in the south that we owe so much to that has been completely overlooked such as Morgan and Marion.

I would highly recommend this book for students, home-schoolers and just anyone wanting a good source of American historical events revolving around the Revolutionary War. You would be hard pressed to find so much information about a variety of events and people who played significant roles in our founding struggle than you will find in this single volume.

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Summary: READS LIKE A GOOD BOOK
Review: I consider Patriots a history book for people who don't like history. Rather than read like a typical dull, dry history book, this book reads more like a novel. Done in narrative style, we start at the early days of the revolution and learn that the people of the colonies were hardly in agreement over splitting from England.

We learn that Samuel Adams, known more today for the beer company bearing his name, was the key, early member of the faction that opposed Europe. As we go along, we meet the other well-known founding fathers: Hancock, Henry, Jefferson, Washington, John Adams, Paine, etc.

Very well-done.

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Summary: Decisive actions completely airbrushed out
Review: I felt dumb when it came to history. After 9/11 I had this urge to learn more about our country. I had trouble sticking with the book in the begining but suddenly I could not put it down. I feel inspired to learn even more about these people in history.

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Summary: An In-Depth Study of the People Responsible For Our Freedom
Review: In Patriots, A.J. Langguth presents us with biographies of the people who were responsible for instigating America's war for independence. He does an incredibly thorough job of disseminating information that typically won't be found in the history books we read in school. I occasionally found myself confused between the two Adams (John and Samuel), but other than that, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative read.

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Summary: Terrific Exploration Of The American Revolution!
Review: Several recent authors have profited by employing a common method to breathe new life and energy into the somewhat over-trodden path of early American history. By meaningfully locating specific critical personalities ranging from Samuel Adams to Patrick Henry within the locus of the specific times, writers like A.J Langguth and others use the intersection of biography and history to best advantage, rendering the essential glue of drama and circumstance to help the reader better appreciate the human drama within the welter of historical circumstance. Langguth has done so memorably elsewhere with his tome on Vietnam, "Our Vietnam", where he was a journalist for several years in the 1960s during the war. In "Patriots; The Men Who Started The American Revolution", he succeeds marvelously in enthusiastically re-animating our latent interest in events that many of us are at least superficially quite familiar with.

Here we find the basis for and conduct of the revolution as it unfolds before us, in all its complex circumstance, as seen through the eyes of those who experienced it. The book opens with a stirring explanation of how early patriots like Sam Adams came to view the British with seething contempt and a growing belief in the need for independence, based as much on economic concerns as on a sad litany of injustices and neglect visited on the colonists by the Crown. One quickly comes to appreciate Langguth's amazing eye for telling detail and informative description, and one finds himself drawn into the vortex of the colonial world in all its vexing dimensions. We stand with Washington in his times of doubt and despair, and marvel at the intellect and foresight of daring dreamers with an almost uncanny appreciation for the art of the practical by watching Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine crafting the various documents articulating the revolution and the evolving breakaway government for the foundling republic in its first formative stages.

This is a book full of both meticulously performed research and arresting facts, which the author uses to advantage to build the story and create a sense of suspense despite the fact that we all know how it turns out. By locating us with the actors on the ground as things are happening, he gives us what can only be described as a journalistic look at the unfolding drama, such that we better comprehend what life was like for the colonist as they struggled toward freedom and independence, often at most unattractive odds. One walks away from the book with a finer understanding of the specifics of the revolution itself, its importance historically, and a profound admiration for the astounding human beings who carried it all off. Enjoy!

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Summary: CONCISE AND NEVER BORING HISTORY
Review: The great thing about Patriots is that author AJ Langguth writes the book in almost a novel style. Rather than a typical dry history book you feel like you are reading a good piece of fiction.

Beginning with events long before the Revolution, we meet a couple of gentlemen who have been a bit lost in history thanks to larger names like Washington and Jefferson...namely Samuel Adams and James Otis.

Yes Sam Adams was a brewer but As we learn, Adams was really among the first to make the push for independence among Boston colonialists. Langguth goes over in detail the roots that led to war. Of the English blockades in Boston harbor and the Stamp Act.

The first shots at Lexington and Concorde are described in an exciting narrative style. We see that these were not pitched battles as we may have thought, but rather small forces of British soldiers opposed by smaller rag-tag groups of Americans.

In particular, the battle of Bunker Hill really puts you at the battle as The British stubbornly tried to keep taking the hill despite heavy losses.

One by one we are introduced to our Founding Fathers: Washington, Jefferson, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, John Adams, Ben Franklin. We learn much of the personal lives before thier involvement in the Revolution.

Langguth also takes us behind the battles into the political and diplomatic sides. We see that many in England actually supported the colonists, at least early on. There was as much political intrigue as any modern day suspense novel.

A very well done book. Especially good for those who don't generally enjoy reading about history.

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Summary: So much better than History Class
Review: There is so much in this book that you didn't hear about in history class. In this book, the "old men" on our money or on beer labels are young, brash and passionate. Much like watching "Survivor", we see the play of relationships, alliances, immaturity, wisdom: everything that is real about a society and individual leaders. I read about the Boston Massacre and thought "Kent State". The British soldiers being attacked by commandos hiding behind trees along the road and I thought "Iraq". A.J. Langguth even talks about wartime intelligence, spies everwhere and missed opportunities - and I think "9/11". Finally, the debates in England about the war and the role of businessmen in support and opposition is most familiar to us today, not to mention the strong leader (King George) who continued to pursue the war even as opinion in the Parliment turned against him. This book is history that is real and completly understandable in the context of our own experience.

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Summary: Horrah for American Idependece
Review: This book is Great !! This author has turned this tale of bostonian rioters to a World war of sorts that shook the world, you already know the outcome of of this story yet you feel the suspense, and gripping passages as if it were fiction. And you feel good inside when you see,

"the world was turned upside-down."

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Summary: Great for those who forgot what they learned in school
Review: This book was definitely not boring! I read it in 3 days and couldn't put it down like a good novel but I was actually learning stuff I probably should have known already.

Some reviews have complained about the book leaving out some of the important southern battles. In defense of this book, it has given me enough information and interest in this part of history that I plan on finding another source to fill in the gaps.