Rating: 
Summary: Not what i was looking for
Review: "The Minutemen and Their World" is a very informative historical account of the town of Concord before, during, and after the revolution. This book reveals much about what caused Concord to become the birthplace of the revolution. It showed how dissent in the North over many issues was causing a rebellion within Concord similar to the rebellion going on between the colonies and Great Britain. While Concord wanted to hold on to its northern community, the north side of Concord was unhappy as a part of the town. They had no choice but to walk many miles to church every Sunday, and despite their distance from the center of town and all of its benefits such as the school, they had to pay the same amount of taxes as all the other parts of Concord. This issue of taxation was similar to the one that the colonies had with Great Britain. It is just one of the great points brought up in this book. The book also details the lives of many people who resided in Concord in the revolutionary era. A lot of these people's lives also showcased the theme of rebellion as the town of Concord did. The stories of how sons started to go against the wishes of their fathers and how daughters such as Lucy Barnes took marriage into their own hands give the reader a good perspective of how the younger generation was starting to rebel against their elders. Despite these good aspects of the book, it also had a good share of problems. The biggest problem was that a lot of the information presented in the book was brought forth in an extremely dry and boring manner. Although the material presented was significant and worthwhile, reading it was somewhat tedious and made it easy for the reader to lose interest. The second major problem in this book was the lack of focus on the actual revolutionary war and the role that the minutemen played in it. While the book gave an excellent prelude to the revolution in Concord, it didn't really devote much time to what went on during the revolution. This took away from the book because it didn't elaborate much on what the minutemen did after providing a more than sufficient amount of background information on them. Despite these two major issues, the book presented a lot of solid and interesting information from which one can learn much. If you are prepared to be bored somewhat by the dryness of this book, then it is definitely in your best interest to read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Such a Gross Book
Review: "The Minutemen and Their World" is a very well written account of the people and culture of Concord, Massachusetts in the years leading up to the American Revolution. Robert Gross did a tremendous amount of research to find information about individuals whose names and accomplishments have long since been forgotten by the world, but he tells their story so thoroughly that he allows the reader to forget what a challenging task he took upon himself. In this book, which was published shortly after the Vietnam War and without ever mentioning that conflict highlights some interesting parallels between it and the American Revolution, Gross asks the reader to question why these colonists, who were content to oversee local affairs and leave even the most important colonial and national matters to outsiders, would get caught up in the American Revolution, and the book provides some interesting answers. This book takes a refreshing look at colonial America and provides its readers with incredible data from the period; it will certainly benefit all scholars and mere colonial history buffs.
Rating: 
Summary: A Highly Informative Historical Novel
Review: Although I found the Minutemen and Their World a tedious book to read, I have only begun to realize the benefits of completing it. Gross may not have presented the facts in the most fascinating manner, but he did bring much important evidence to light. The book gives one a very good sense of the life of a minuteman, or of any colonist around the time of the revolution. It shows how the relations between the colonies and the mother country affected the people, and how they led up to the revolution. The book also illustrates how the people and their society evolved during the period. The citizens of Concord were completely wrapped up in local affairs until the events leading up to the revolution led them to become more involved in the world around them. Then they gradually changed their role in Massachusetts and were more heavily involved in the revolutionary movement. The town of Concord is used as a representative example of a colonial town. It shows how American society as a whole, was changing. If you can get past the dry wording of the novel, Gross has much valuable information to convey about the American Revolution.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly Written, Brilliantly Boring
Review: For a freshman history class in college, I had to read Robert Gross' The Minutemen and Their World. I thought it would be an engaging book about the lives of the Minutemen of the Revolutionary War period. It was more about the life of residents of Concord Massachusetts and how it was before, during, and after the American Revolution. Gross thoroughly researched the facts for this book - I have no doubt of that. It is intricate enough to include the particulars of the lives of individuals living in Concord as well as the overall sentiments of the town (and other Massachusetts towns/villages).
Filled with many facts, this book is great if you have an interest in such a thing. However, it is a most dry read in that it is in this general layout:
Fact, fact, information on a particular Concordian, fact, fact, fact
The bottom line: This book is great for researching life in Concord/Massachusetts. However, it's not very good for being an exciting read.
Rating: 
Summary: a pleasure to read? absolutely
Review: I agree wholeheartedly with editorial reviewer David Hackett Fisher. This book reads almost like a novel, and yet it is a work of history--with solid research and scholarship, at that. Gross argues that the Revolution provided Concord an opportunity to re-assert control over the community and its destiny. In the years preceding 1775-1776, great changes were sweeping across the colonies, particularly in traditional New England towns like Concord. For example, there was the problem of decreasing supplies of land, and fathers, with sometimes large numbers of sons, had difficulty providing for all his heirs (without dividing the land and, hence, making it less sustainable). Other issues were occurring specifically in Concord--such as the desire of its residents farther from the town to hire their own minister. So threatened, Concord was experiencing not just stasis but actual decline in these pre-Revolution years. Therefore, with all these fluctuations and challenges, participation in the Revolution offered Concord a chance to seize initiative and regain control over its political and communal life, to restore its autonomy. Gross writes, "The men of 1775 had not gone to war to promote change but to stop it."
Rating:
Summary: a pleasure to read? absolutely
Review: I agree wholeheartedly with editorial reviewer David Hackett Fisher. This book reads almost like a novel, and yet it is a work of history--with solid research and scholarship, at that. Gross argues that the Revolution provided Concord an opportunity to re-assert control over the community and its destiny. In the years preceding 1775-1776, great changes were sweeping across the colonies, particularly in traditional New England towns like Concord. For example, there was the problem of decreasing supplies of land, and fathers, with sometimes large numbers of sons, had difficulty providing for all his heirs (without dividing the land and, hence, making it less sustainable). Other issues were occurring specifically in Concord--such as the desire of its residents farther from the town to hire their own minister. So threatened, Concord was experiencing not just stasis but actual decline in these pre-Revolution years. Therefore, with all these fluctuations and challenges, participation in the Revolution offered Concord a chance to seize initiative and regain control over its political and communal life, to restore its autonomy. Gross writes, "The men of 1775 had not gone to war to promote change but to stop it."
Rating: 
Summary: The Most Boring Book I've Ever Read
Review: I never thought that my eyes could bleed until I read this book. For entertainment purposes, it is one of the worst books anyone will ever cross. For educational purposes however, the story is a tad different. I am a bit reluctant to admit that The Minutemen and Their World by Robert A. Gross is a decent tool for education. What makes this book "decent" is it's style; it focuses not on the key figures, big towns, or even the actual war that much. Instead it shines a bright light upon the "townspeople's ordinary lives." (Gross preface) "Yet high-minded motives were not enough," Gross writes, as "the Christian soldier must actively cultivate the talents appropriate to his calling," in reference to the average soldier during the Colonial period. (Gross 72) The book also is chock full of facts (often times to a point of either confusion, boredom, or both) on almost every page. "In the summer of 1799, Sally Barrett, the unmarried daughter of the lieutenant's first cousin Samuel, became pregnant, and the father turned out to be Stephen, Jr., age twenty-three." (Gross 181) The above information although true, creates a complicated and messy picture of the events. One often must go back while saying to himself, "OK, so what just happened?" Many such examples abound in the book. A most likely reason for such confusion and complication is Gross' writing style; yes, the same style that made the book "decent" (due to a focus on the average Joe.) While facts are more plentiful then Vultures swarming around road-kill, the presentation of it all is not so peachy. The meat of the book is delivered in a more than mundane way. "They [magistrates] had toiled for the town principally over the past decade, although a few were survivors from the 1750's suddenly plucked from early Political retirement." (Gross 62) Although there most likely does not exist an exciting way of stating that, it seems that the delivery of the message is bland and distasteful. This can only lead to an unentertaining book, no matter how factually correct or useful it is. One that will even make the eyes bleed. Written by Michael Epstein...
Rating:
Summary: too many Minutes Man!
Review: If you could get through the first few sentences of this book without yawning, then this book is for you. In this book, Robert Gross explains the life of a town before, during, and after the American Revolution. I do admit that this book wasn't a page tuner, but once I got into it, after about 171 pages, it became quite good. As soon as the Gross started talking about the years following the American Revolution, it became quite interesting. Gross explained the social world, in how, people came together and worked as a whole to make life better for everyone. In conclusion, this book was mostly dry but full of detail.
Rating:
Summary: One Literary Composition Fortified with Historical Knowledge
Review: Robert A. Gross' historical work, The Minutemen and Their World is an authentic recollection of colonial Massachusetts prior to, during, and after the famous American Revolution. For those studying American history, this book reveals how civilians living in Concord, Massachusetts struggled to make a living under social upheavals while dedicated minutemen defended the nation. Gross has put forth a great amount of effort in researching primary sources such as letters, journals, and statistics in order to capture the political, economic, and social dilemmas that perturbed civilization amid the Revolutionary War. This comprehensive piece of literature includes heavy arguments pertaining to church membership, property distribution, colonial government, and taxation in Massachusetts. Gross illustrates how middle class men invested all their energy to train for a loosely associated militia. His novel portrays the famous events, such as the Coercive Acts and the Quartering Act that ignited the Revolution. In addition, Gross details the actual scene where the first shots were fired on April 19, 1775. Once the reader begins to read The Minutemen and Their World, he/she will feel as if the Revolutionary Era came to life in the twenty-first century! Any history fanatic and inquisitive historian will find Gross' work to be one detailed source of colonial history in Massachusetts with an overall reflection of civilian life in Concord, not just the militiamen, who struggled under the war for independence.
Rating:
Summary: Gross=Facts
Review: The Minutemen and Their World is a very informative book. So informative, at times I thought it was hard to recall of the specific details Gross talks about. The book deals with colonial Concord, MA before, during, and after the American Revolution. Gross wrote about many different people and families to portray their way of life in colonial Concord. The funny thing about this book is that the majority of the book details Concord before and after the revolution and there is only one chapter on the actual revolution. I personally found the book to be intriguing and truly interesting but it was difficult to recall all that I had read due to the amount of facts present in each chapter. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has to write a paper on colonial America or if you just really love history. Gross knows his facts and sighting passages from this book in a paper would truly impress your professor.
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