This is in response to Lex Renda's posting. There are three recent (or fairly recent) syntheses, all called THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Their authors are, respectively, Colin Bonwick (University Press of Virginia), Harry Ward (St. Martin's), and me (Hill & Wang). On principle I don't use my own book in class. Instead I build the class around a dialogue between more recent material and Edmund Morgan's BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC.
For short readings, you might want to try the Bedford series. This summer i'm using Colin Calloway's volume on Indians THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN. Consider also Sheila Skemp's BENJAMIN AND WILLIAM FRANKLIN: FATHER AND SON, PATRIOT AND LOYALIST. Get their general catalogue (75 Arlington St., Boston MA 02116). From the publication of Bailyn's IDEOLOGICAL ORIGTINS until the early 1980s there was enormous interest in the Revolution's etiology and process, whether we look at process in intellectual or social terms. Then there was a period of not much interest at all. Most recently concern has turned to the Revolution's consequences for American social development. That's the major theme in Gordon Wood's RADICALISM OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (Knopf), the 1993 Alfred Young anthology BEYOND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (Northern Illinois), and my AMERICANS (Hill & Wang, 1996). I've used Wood successfully, although it's demanding. Right now, in summer school, I'm playing off the 1993 Young book against his 1976 collection THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (Northern Illinois), which is working well. When Pauline Maier's AMERICAN SCRIPTURE (Knopf) becomes paperbacked I'll certainly try it.
The issue of social change during the Revolution has almost become unmanageable. Volumes abound on the race/gender/class theme. Gary Nash's FORGING FREEDOM (Harvard) works well and, of course, I've also used his URBAN CRUCIBLE (Harvard). I've used both Mary Beth Norton and Linda Kerber on women, and have also tried Joy and Richard Buel's THE WAY OF DUTY (Norton), which is also a film. Sheila Skemp's forthcoming Bedford book on Judith Sargent Murray will get a try from me the next time I teach the subject. I still use Robert Gross's MINUTEMEN AND THEIR WORLD (Hill & Wang) on New England, but have alternated it with David Fischer's PAUL REVERE'S RIDE (OXFORD). On black people, in addition to Nash, Sydney and Emma Kaplan's BLACK PRESENCE IN THE ERA OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (UMass) and Shane White's SOMEWHAT MORE INDEPENDENT (Georgia) are worth looking at. On Indians mine the footnotes in my article in the WILLIAM AND MARY in April, 1996, whether you buy the argument or not. You might also gain from going through all the University Press of Virginia anthologies that Ronald Hoffman has edited and from several recent collections put together by Jack Greene, including THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: ITS CHARACTER AND LIMITS (1987), THE BLACKWELL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1991), and UNDERSTANDING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1995), as well as Robert Gross's collection IN DEBT TO SHAYS (1993). My students are reading Bailyn's IDEOLOGICAL ORIGINS right now, as one of two monographs on their list. The other is FORGING FREEDOM.
That just touches it. I hope it helps.
Edward Countryman
Southern Methodist University
I hesitated to respond, assuming that this volume would be duplicated on most lists, but I think that one of the best synthetic works with a lively and highly readable narrative is:
In addition to Frey and Nash on African-American experience, an older, but valuable short text is Benjamin Quarles _The Negro in the American Revolution_ which I heard was re-printed by WW Norton not long ago.
Regards,
Gretchen Adams
Gretchen A. Adams
ga@hopper.unh.edu
University of New Hampshire
History
It's the only textbook I've found that gives students a good overview of the period and a solid chnological framework. It does a good job incorporating the major scholarly themes through its publication date, and it's short so you can move onto other topics quickly.
Have you thought about using the film Mary Silliman's War? It works well and is a nice change of pace. You can using it with or w/o Buel & Buel's The Way of Duty: A Women and Her Family in Revolutionary America (1984).
I'd second the opinion about using Paine's Common Sense. Students enjoy reading it. You might pair it up with Foner's Thomas Paine.
I've haven't checked recently, but the National Archives & Records Administration had a large number of jpeg images on their web site from the American Revolution. These might liven up lectures.
Steve Grossbart
Salt Lake City, UT
Stephen:
Although it is somewhat of an older publication, James Kirby Martin's "In the Course of Human Events" has been a favorite of advanced undergrads at GW for a number of years. John Staudt
Stephen R. Grossbart wrote:
> Is there really a good text book for upper division undergrads? It's
not
> perfect, but I've had the most success with the last half of Henretta
&
> Nobles, Evolution and Revolution: American Society, 1600-1820 (Heath,
1987).
> It's the only textbook I've found that gives students a good overview of
the
> period and a solid chnological framework. It does a good job
incorporating
> the major scholarly themes through its publication date, and it's
short so
> you can move onto other topics quickly.
Author: Asst Prof John Kolp kolp@nadn.navy.mil
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 1997 08:10:14 EDT
I have found Norman Risjord's JEFFERSON'S AMERICA, 1760-1815 (Madison House, 1991) a quite reasonable textbook for a course on the American Revolution. It is an extensively revised version of a book originally published in the early 1970s. The revisions incorporate much of the scholarship of the 70s and 80s and give the students a solid and very readable narrative. I suppliment this with Martin and Lender's A RESPECTABLE ARMY: THE MILITARY ORIGINS OF THE REPUBLIC which is an excellent overview from the "new" military history persective; Martin's edition of ORDINARY COURGAGE: THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR ADVENTURES OF JOSEPH PLUMB MARTIN (Brandywine Press); and Gary Nash's RACE AND REVOLUTION.
I would also recommend the film "Mary Silliman's War" (93 minutes divided into two parts for showing in 50 minute classes). It brings the "civil war" nature of the Revolution home very clearly and raises the isssue of loyalty and allegiance. It also has things to say about women's roles, gender relations, home front -- "community" in war, blacks/slaves in New England, servants, importance of religion, privateering, etc.
John Kolp
History Dept
US Naval Academy
Dear Mr. Starr,
I have not taught a class, but attended the one my advisor taught on the American Revolution. He highly recommended (and I concur) that Middlekauff's _The Glorious Cause_ is probably the best "textbook" for the Revolution.
Hope this helps,
Vikki J. Vickers
University of Missouri-Columbia
c523595@showme.missouri.edu
"Sing Your Life"