Description
Book SynopsisThis collection of 17 biographies provides a unique opportunity for the reader to go beyond the popular heroes of the American Revolution and discover the diverse populace that inhabited the colonies during this pivotal point in history.
Trade ReviewThe writing is uniformly excellent and the subjects well chosen—and only half the biographies are about white males. This collection should appeal to a wide audience. I will certainly use it in my American Revolution course. -- Neil R. Stout, University of Vermont
It would take an American Hogarth to paint such a group of intriguing men and women from different classes, religions, races, and regions. But all of us can now explore and compare these diverse and well-documented lives, relating them to the more familiar faces and places of the Revolutionary era. -- Peter H. Wood, author of Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 Through the Stono Rebellion
In this wonderful collection of concise and imaginative essays, the editors convey the immense diversity of the American Revolution in a way that no conventional narrative ever could. Reading these essays is a real pleasure. -- John M. Murrin, Princeton University
A fascinating potpourri of lives of Revolutionary era Americans, each different, each illuminating, all presenting a complex portrait of the lived experiences of late eighteenth-century Americans. -- Jack N. Rakove, professor of history, Stanford University
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction: The Revolutionary Players Chapter 2 Anthony Benezet: America's Finest Eighteenth-Century Antislavery Advocate Chapter 3 Lachlan McGillivray: Indian Trader on the Southern Colonial Frontier Chapter 4 Eliza Lucas Pinckney: Vegetables and Virtue Chapter 5 William Smith: Philadelphia Minister and Moderate Chapter 6 William Prendergast and the Revolution in the Hudson River Valley: 'Poor Men Were Always Oppressed by the Rich' Chapter 7 Ashley Bowen of Marblehead: Revolutionary Neutral Chapter 8 Dragging Canoe (Tsi'yu-g°nsi'ni): Chickamauga Cherokee Patriot Chapter 9 Daniel Boone and the Struggle for Independence on the Revolutionary Frontier Chapter 10 Philadelphia Quaker Elizabeth Drinker and Her Servant, Jane Boon: 'Times are Much Changed and Maids Are Become Mistresses' Chapter 11 Mary Brant (Konwatsi'tsiaienni Degonwadonti): 'Miss Molly,' Feminist Role Model or Mohawk Princess? Chapter 12 Arthur Lee of Virginia: The Forgotten Revolutionary Chapter 13 Simon Girty: His War on the Frontier Chapter 14 Absalom Jones and the African Church of Philadelphia: 'To Arise out of the Dust' Chapter 15 Baroness Friederike von Riedesel: 'Mrs. General' Chapter 16 Judith Sargent Murray: The American Revolution and the Rights of Women Chapter 17 Phillis Wheatley: Speaking Liberty to the 'Modern Egyptians' Chapter 18 Benjamin Gilbert and Jacob Nagle: Soldiers of the American Revolution Chapter 19 Index
