The Unknown American Revolution

Has the true history of the founding of America been rendered safe, palatable, and sanitized by historians? The American Revolution was just that: a violent upheaval. And the rebels were just that: rebels. In this people`s history of the American Revolution, Gary B. Nash presents an alternative to the Founding Fathers school of American history, as he shows how the early years of the nation were a tendentious and noisy time, full of debate, and that the American Revolution resulted from a swelling of resentment on the part of a large and varied population in the colonies--most of whom were not landowners and slaveholders. The many voices of farmers, preachers, traders, laborers, women, Native Americans, and others were the true spirit of `76, and Nash documents how their resentments built up to the events we call the Revolution, and contributed through it and beyond. Nash describes how, once the nation was on its own and there was a virtual clean slate, these varied interests vied for shares of power, as they attempted a variety of experiments in governing. New factions arose, based on geography and other interests, and there were major power shifts as they all fought for their place in the new order. Nash`s survey of a 30-year period in American history revises the standard national narrative of the early years of the republic. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.