If you have been paying attention to the prize package list for the HAVA fundraiser, you will see that a copy of Paul Revere’s Ride snuck in there, currently attached to the Boomershoot entry under the “citizen marksman” package heading. These books (I actually have two; still deciding on where to put the second) come to us by way of Chris from AK, and I will let him give you a brief explanation of them:
I’m a history guy. I studied it in college and really enjoy the topic. Appleseed’s history is based on Paul Revere’s Ride. The author of this book has written another which is on the US Army’s professional reading list. I’ve read the source material. I feel that Appleseed did a credible job of presenting the story with accuracy. It is really a rather remarkable story and needs little exaggeration, anyways.
Anyone who has been to an Appleseed event, or read a comprehensive after-action review of one, is familiar with the concept of the “Three Strikes” – in short, how the British brought the American Revolution down on their own autocratic heads by attempting to inflict the “Assault Weapon Ban of 1775” on Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. Well, Paul Revere’s Ride is the historical documentation behind those strikes:
In Paul Revere’s Ride, David Hackett Fischer fashions an exciting narrative that offers deep insight into the outbreak of revolution and the emergence of the American republic. Beginning in the years before the eruption of war, Fischer illuminates the figure of Paul Revere, a man far more complex than the simple artisan and messenger of tradition. Revere ranged widely through the complex world of Boston’s revolutionary movement–from organizing local mechanics to mingling with the likes of John Hancock and Samuel Adams. When the fateful night arrived, more than sixty men and women joined him on his task of alarm–an operation Revere himself helped to organize and set in motion.
I might have to see if I can read through it before I have to send it out to the winners…
This morning I would like to thank Weer’d Beard, Kurt Hoffmann, and Peter for spreading the word about the fundraiser – as Peter discovered, these really are good people, and helping them helps wounded veterans.
I recently finished reading the book. It is dry in some parts (as history books will sometimes be). I learned details I’ve never heard before, and have shared them with my children. I highly recommend it. As a matter of fact, I need to jump up on Amazon and leave a review…
If the information I remember from the Appleseed event is any indication, I will definitely learn a thing or two from this book… which rather says something about the status of the American “education” system, honestly, considering Revere’s ride is one of the seminal moments of our country’s founding. I have also had The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War
recommended to me for books in a similar vein, and will have to look into it in the future.