The Creation of America : Through Revolution to Empire

Rating:
Summary: Very important book, should be required in history class
Review: American history never made sense to me and now I know why. As voltaire said, "History is the lie commonly agreed upon" and that's what was taught to me in school and is now taught to my son. Francis Jennings tries to change all that with a "revisionist history" asking the questions that when posed by students in school are ignored by teachers. How did material progress evolve in a country that was already populated by over 25 million inhabitants? Who owned america? How did we shift from a policy of cooperation with the indians (a la Thanksgiving) to one of aggression. How much of our revolution was political and how much economic? How did relations between colonialists and Great Britain deteriorate so quickly after so many years of harmony? This book is an overview of much that Jennings has written in earlier books with some further thoughts and ideas. What is most enjoyable is that he is willing to speculate, to question accepted fact and wisdom, to go out on a limb, to offer an opinion on various events, characters and situations. For the first time american history became real to me: the people human, the events complex and contradictory, the struggle for independence understandable. In the end a history not much different from what has been happening recently in Washington. The prose can be turgid; parts of it are somewhat academic but Jennings moves the story along and makes for me (a non-historian) very telling points. He left this reader with much to think about. I have since gone out and bought his other books and will be reading those in 2001. A good balancing piece after this book is A Struggle For Power by Theodore Draper.

Rating:
Summary: Get the REAL American History Here
Review: I loved this book! It is the most realistic, no-nonsence presentation of the American colonial story as I have ever see, in or out of school. Jennings tells it like it was, sans the "romance" and "heroics" often portrayed in school texts and by those historians who want to cast a rosy glow on the American story; he portrays the struggle for empire (not just "freedom"), depicting not just the challenges with which American settlers confronted England, but he tells of the struggles between the varied inhabitants of the early colonies, from the landed genty to slaves, from the native Indians to the land-seeking westward travelers. There are stories both amazing and cruel in this book, and Jennings pulls no punches in calling a thief a thief (even if one did become President) and a tyrant a tyrant (even though one became Secretary of State). Jennings' report is told in just plain "straight-up" language, without the usual laudatory embellishments. In the end, I was still proud to be an American, seeing how this nation was put together by real human beings... some heros, some not.

The only fault I found with this book was the manner in which some historic episodes and events got repeated from one chapter to the next. True, Jennings may have been casting a new light, fresh discussion, on a previously-discussed event, but this repetition sometimes seem to interfer with the logical progression of the historic chronology Nevertheless, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what reeeally happened in the formation of this nation.

Rating:
Summary: Get the REAL American History Here
Review: I loved this book! It is the most realistic, no-nonsence presentation of the American colonial story as I have ever see, in or out of school. Jennings tells it like it was, sans the "romance" and "heroics" often portrayed in school texts and by those historians who want to cast a rosy glow on the American story; he portrays the struggle for empire (not just "freedom"), depicting not just the challenges with which American settlers confronted England, but he tells of the struggles between the varied inhabitants of the early colonies, from the landed genty to slaves, from the native Indians to the land-seeking westward travelers. There are stories both amazing and cruel in this book, and Jennings pulls no punches in calling a thief a thief (even if one did become President) and a tyrant a tyrant (even though one became Secretary of State). Jennings' report is told in just plain "straight-up" language, without the usual laudatory embellishments. In the end, I was still proud to be an American, seeing how this nation was put together by real human beings... some heros, some not.

The only fault I found with this book was the manner in which some historic episodes and events got repeated from one chapter to the next. True, Jennings may have been casting a new light, fresh discussion, on a previously-discussed event, but this repetition sometimes seem to interfer with the logical progression of the historic chronology Nevertheless, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what reeeally happened in the formation of this nation.

Rating:
Summary: Poorly written
Review: I tried reading this book but found it so turgid and poorly written that I put it down in frustration. It reads like a translation from another language by an academic bureacrat. The theme is interesting, the execution poor. Cannot recommend.

Rating:
Summary: The Creation of American: Through Revolution to Empire
Review: This book is trash. It contains a number of historical errors such as when Jennings states that Gov. Samuel Adams dispatched troops to suppress Daniel Shay's rebellion in Western Massachusetts following the American Revolution. Bowdoin, not Adams, was Governor at the time and he acted to protect our Government.

He states that Samuel Adams and John Hancock were cowards for not being on the firing line at Lexington. He conveniently overlooks the fact that one of the missions of the British troops was to arrest Adams and Hancock so that they could be sent to England for trial and probable hanging. The Patriots had Adams and Hancock under guard to advoid their capture. It would have been a great loss to the American cause has the British been successful. I assume that Jennings would criticize Churchill and Roosevelt for not participating in the intial landings on Normandy Beach during WWII.

He characterizes George Washington as an embezzler and John Adams as hollow hero. Our Nation would not exist today had it not been for their efforts, along with many others. They put their lives, fortunes and future on the line to build our country and certainly we all in debt to those individuals who managed to the compromises necessary to bring the widely diverse interests of the several states to focus on a common goal.

Jennings write in his book that he was a one time a member of a political organization whose goal was to overthrow our government. This book perhaps was written in frustration over the failure of that organization to accomplish its aims.

Rating:
Summary: The Creation of American: Through Revolution to Empire
Review: This book is trash. It contains a number of historical errors such as when Jennings states that Gov. Samuel Adams dispatched troops to suppress Daniel Shay's rebellion in Western Massachusetts following the American Revolution. Bowdoin, not Adams, was Governor at the time and he acted to protect our Government.

He states that Samuel Adams and John Hancock were cowards for not being on the firing line at Lexington. He conveniently overlooks the fact that one of the missions of the British troops was to arrest Adams and Hancock so that they could be sent to England for trial and probable hanging. The Patriots had Adams and Hancock under guard to advoid their capture. It would have been a great loss to the American cause has the British been successful. I assume that Jennings would criticize Churchill and Roosevelt for not participating in the intial landings on Normandy Beach during WWII.

He characterizes George Washington as an embezzler and John Adams as hollow hero. Our Nation would not exist today had it not been for their efforts, along with many others. They put their lives, fortunes and future on the line to build our country and certainly we all in debt to those individuals who managed to the compromises necessary to bring the widely diverse interests of the several states to focus on a common goal.

Jennings write in his book that he was a one time a member of a political organization whose goal was to overthrow our government. This book perhaps was written in frustration over the failure of that organization to accomplish its aims.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: This is a really revealing book on american history, it approaches this subject matter from a different perspective, it shows that the "revolution" was fought rather for more cynical and materialistic reasons, as oppose to the "abstract" idealism that many were lead to believe...

This book is a real eye opener, and many have dismissed it because of some its claims.

(Especially by those who have a deeply held romantic notion that somehow all wars are fought on absolute ideals, this book is not for them)

But for others who are looking for historical perspective that may be different from the one they were spoon fed in school, then I truely recomend this fascinating book to you...

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: This is a really revealing book on american history, it approaches this subject matter from a different perspective, it shows that the "revolution" was fought rather for more cynical and materialistic reasons, as oppose to the "abstract" idealism that many were lead to believe...

This book is a real eye opener, and many have dismissed it because of some its claims.

(Especially by those who have a deeply held romantic notion that somehow all wars are fought on absolute ideals, this book is not for them)

But for others who are looking for historical perspective that may be different from the one they were spoon fed in school, then I truely recomend this fascinating book to you...