The Spirit of Seventy-Six

by Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris

Book Overview

Who shall write the history of the American Revolution? Who can write it? asked John Adams in 1815. Renowned scholars Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris have provided a prudent, perceptive... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0785814639
• ISBN13: 9780785814634
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Booksales
• Length: 1348 Pages
• Weight: 4.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.7" x 6.3" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Great For The Historian!

The Spirit of Seventy-six by Henry S. Commager is possibly the best collection of writings from the American Revolution. The book has thousands of exerts from journals, diaries, and lettersby participants. The book also has great maps to refer to while studying a certain battle or campaign. This book has a "contents"that is handy in finding your interest, the book is over one thousand pages. The Spirit of Seventy-six is a great reference book for the Revolutionary War enthusiast.

Wonderful

A great book ! I spent the better part of this year reading this book. But the beauty is that does not pose a problem because the writings included in this work are all relatively short. Make no mistake this is a very long work but well worth the effort. Especially since it is a collection of an incredible number of very short works. The collected works are as the title states contemporary accounts. It is a real treat to read what the contenders had to say about each other. Also the reader may think that the style will be difficult. Not at all. All in all I would most heartily recommend this work for either the student who would like a resource or anyone interested in The Revolution.

Superb

This is a great book! You can read it cover to cover, or read parts here and there, putting it down and taking it up as one has time or the inclination. The editors place all of the writings in perspective and context. The selections are not just those of the big name founding fathers--many common folk, officers and soldiers, civilians and women have their say in these pages. British, Americans and Loyalists are represented as well.

Vibrant and powerful!

This is a fantastic work. The best thing about history is to find original source material and read what the actual people were thinking and saying. This book is better than most since it is mainly made up of letters and documents that illustrate how amazing our freedom is.We take so much for granted today and I believe that every American should read this book and realize just how close we came to losing everything. Heroes are really men and women that sacrifice everything for what they believe in. This book is about our first heroes. Our founding fathers and mothers were so exceptional. I get emotional every time I open this book and read about Lafayette, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Greene, Hale, Henry, and Franklin.Please read this book and experience the story of our freedom from the people that won it.

Primary Source Material

Compendiums of primary source material are of infinite value to those who wish to seriously study any period of history. The authors of this immense work have done us all a great service in presenting a colorful, accurate, and representative picture of the American Revolution by those who were there. As a primary source, this book is invaluable. It isn't a book I would pick to read for pleasure on a cold, rainy night in front of the fireplace. In my opinion, it is more of a reference work that will give immense aid to researchers, historians, reenactors and hobbyists/enthusiasts of the period. Conversely, this serious work is not a dull encyclopedia, but a collection of recollections from those who fought to establish the country we call the United States. This book is both highly recommended and is a must to be on the bookshelf of any serious student of the period.