The Revolutionary Paul Revere by Joel J. Miller

  Very approachable history

The Revolutionary Paul Revere is a great history for newbies to the Revolutionary War's history as well as a solid history for those that are more well read.

 Joel J. Miller begins his history with Paul Revere's father, Apollos Rivoire, a French Huegonot who fled to Boston for religious freedom as an indentured servant. Miller follows the family and weaves into the narrative the complex and often tense relationship between England and its American colonies.

 Despite the very informal tone of the book, this is a fairly detailed biography of America's most famous messenger, who was also a founding member of the Sons of Liberty and who personally knew John Adams, Sam Adams and John Hancock. Most people know that Revere was a silversmith, participated in the Boston Tea Party and of course the famed "Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." But, what happened after that? For most of us, Paul fades away from the history and disappears.
Paul Revere
Miller's biography follows Revere in an orderly mostly year-by-year format in which we learn about his successes and setbacks in business (mostly successes), his family life, his very activie social and political life and even his less than stellar attempts to be a soldier. It turns out Revere was very successful as a military contractor, but not much of a soldier, despite his bravery under fire.

 Truly the best feature of the book is the way that Miller weaves in the larger social and political events of the day and includes Revere's reactions to them, including demonstrating how British taxes and policies affected the bottom line of his business. The very informal tone may be a turn off for some, but for others it will be a breath of fresh air.

 I rate this biography 5 stars out of 5.

 This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Revolutionary Paul Revere

Reviewed on December 17, 2010.

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