<div>The original rebels: &ldquo;Brings into clear focus events and identities of ordinary people who should share the historic limelight with the Founding Fathers.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly According to the traditional telling, the American Revolution began with &ldquo;the shot heard &rsquo;round the world.&rdquo; But the people started taking action earlier than many think. The First American Revolution uses the wide-angle lens of a people&rsquo;s historian to tell a surprising new story of America&rsquo;s revolutionary struggle. In the years before the battle of Lexington and Concord, local people&mdash;men and women of common means but of uncommon courage&mdash;overturned British authority and declared themselves free from colonial oppression, with acts of rebellion that long predated the Boston Tea Party. In rural towns such as Worcester, Massachusetts, democracy set down roots well before the Boston patriots made their moves in the fight for independence. Richly documented, The First American Revolution recaptures in vivid detail the grassroots activism that drove events in the years leading up to the break from Britain.</div>

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The First American Revolution

<div>How ordinary people went from resistance to revolution: &ldquo;[A] concise, lively narrative . . . the authors expertly build tension.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly Americans know about the Boston Tea Party and &ldquo;the shot heard &rsquo;round the world,&rdquo; but sixteen months divided these two iconic events, a period that has nearly been lost to history. The Spirit of &rsquo;74 fills in this gap in our nation&rsquo;s founding narrative, showing how in these mislaid months, step by step, real people made a revolution. After the Tea Party, Parliament not only shut down a port but also revoked the sacred Massachusetts charter. Completely disenfranchised, citizens rose up as a body and cast off British rule everywhere except in Boston, where British forces were stationed. A &ldquo;Spirit of &rsquo;74&rdquo; initiated the American Revolution, much as the better-known &ldquo;Spirit of &rsquo;76&rdquo; sparked independence. Redcoats marched on Lexington and Concord to take back a lost province, but they encountered Massachusetts militiamen who had trained for months to protect the revolution they had already made. The Spirit of &rsquo;74 places our founding moment in a rich new historical context, both changing and deepening its meaning for all Americans.</div>

The Spirit of '74

<div>&ldquo;The best single-volume history of the Revolution I have read.&rdquo; &mdash;Howard Zinn Upon its initial publication, Ray Raphael&rsquo;s magisterial A People&rsquo;s History of the American Revolution was hailed by NPR&rsquo;s Fresh Air as &ldquo;relentlessly aggressive and unsentimental.&rdquo; With impeccable skill, Raphael presented a wide array of fascinating scholarship within a single volume, employing a bottom-up approach that has served as a revelation. A People&rsquo;s History of the American Revolution draws upon diaries, personal letters, and other Revolutionary-era treasures, weaving a thrilling &ldquo;you are there&rdquo; narrative&mdash;&ldquo;a tapestry that uses individual experiences to illustrate the larger stories&rdquo;. Raphael shifts the focus away from George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to the slaves they owned, the Indians they displaced, and the men and boys who did the fighting (Los Angeles Times Book Review). This &ldquo;remarkable perspective on a familiar part of American history&rdquo; helps us appreciate more fully the incredible diversity of the American Revolution (Kirkus Reviews). &ldquo;Through letters, diaries, and other accounts, Raphael shows these individuals&mdash;white women and men of the farming and laboring classes, free and enslaved African Americans, Native Americans, loyalists, and religious pacifists&mdash;acting for or against the Revolution and enduring a war that compounded the difficulties of everyday life.&rdquo; &mdash;Library Journal &ldquo;A tour de force . . . Ray Raphael has probably altered the way in which future historians will see events.&rdquo; &mdash;The Sunday Times</div>

A People's History of the American Revolution

<div>An illustrated biography of the Founding Father and first Secretary of the Treasury by the acclaimed authors of The Spirit of ’74. An illegitimate child born in the Caribbean, who arrived in America as a near-penniless teenager, Alexander Hamilton did not seem to have much in common with the rest of the Founding Fathers. But the audacious young immigrant quickly proved himself in the cauldron of revolutionary fervor gripping the colonies in the 1770s. After proving himself in the Revolution as an artillery officer and aide to George Washington, Hamilton became one of the foremost architects of the new United States of America. He wrote many of the Federalist Papers, established the first national bank, and became first Secretary of the Treasury before losing his life in a duel.    In Hamilton, veteran historians Marie Raphael and Ray Raphael explain how Hamilton’s strong personality, quicksilver intellect, and taste for combat played into the contentious arguments over what kind of country the young republic would become. The debate between Thomas Jefferson’s decentralized approach to democracy and Hamilton’s belief in a strong federal government is still being argued today.   Vividly written and fully illustrated, including many colorful and rarely seen pieces of art, Hamilton is a powerful testament to one of the most illustrious figures of American history. Praise for The Spirit of ’74: How the American Revolution Began “[A] concise, lively narrative . . . the authors expertly build tension.” —Publishers Weekly “The Raphaels tell this dramatic story in a fascinating and very readable manner.” —Journal of the American Revolution</div>

Ray Raphael
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Books By Ray Raphael (3 Books)

The First American Revolution

The Spirit of '74

A People's History of the American Revolution

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Ray RaphaelFollow this author

Books By Ray Raphael (3 Books)

The First American Revolution

The Spirit of '74

A People's History of the American Revolution

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© 2024 OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA

Ray Raphael
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