"The Men Who Started the American Revolution" This is one of the best books I've read in a long, long time and I read a lot. Langguth writes in detail about the events leading up to the war and in depth profiles of the characters, both prominent and obscure. Samuel Adams, John Hancock, John Adams, George Washington, Benjimen Franklin, James Otis, and a myriad of lesser knowns and unknowns who were also key participants in the events of the time. There are battle strategies and non-strategies, successes and failures, politics and personalities, romances and dalliances It's like a great beach read - you can't put it down.
I got excited when I my little town was mentioned. Our town was Lebanon Crank until the late 1800 when it was renamed Columbia. It was mentioned that Lebanon were one of the few communities in the colonies that were actively engaged in opposition to the Stamp Act and were prepared to take action against the British. Many of the colonists didn't want to rock the boat, didn't feel the Crown would try to dominate the American colonies even after the stamp act and were willing to sacrifice liberty for peace. Many saw the Sons of Liberty as anarchists. We all know that the events today will have a significant effect on gun ownership and I want to tell everyone who believes in limiting the 2nd amendment to read this book. The British troops were armed with the latest technology and vastly outnumbered the citizen soldiers, the militia, who dressed as peasants and carried their own private weapons, the ones they had been shooting since they were children.
Well...unfortunately it is not available in Kindle (at least not from Amazon...I am off to other sources now)
