To celebrate Memorial Day weekend and the 100-article anniversary of Journal of the American Revolution, we are giving away three signed copies of Reporting the Revolutionary War: Before It Was History, It Was News (Sourcebooks, 2012) by Todd Andrlik. Plus, each winner will also receive a faux leather writing journal. To enter, simply leave a comment below before noon EST on Tuesday, May 28. A winner will be randomly selected Sunday, Monday and Tuesday afternoons, and announced via the comments below.
Reporting the Revolutionary War was recently named Best American Revolution Book of 2012 and has earned rave reviews:
- “I’ve seen nothing like it and I’ve been studying the Revolution since 1955.” -Thomas Fleming
- “One seriously impressive package… a must-have.” -Armchair General Magazine
- “This is ‘you are there’ history at its best.” -American History Magazine
- “A veritable time machine in book form.” -Midwest Book Review’s Library Bookwatch
- “Lavishly illustrated… guaranteed to entice.” -Kirkus Book Reviews
- “The story of the battle for independence unlike any version that has been told.” -Military Review
- “Americans can now see a different side of the birth of our country, as it was reported in real-time by the journalists of the day… a fascinating account of Americans who witnessed the war unfold firsthand as it happened.” -CNN’s Soledad O’Brien
What does history look like while you’re living it? The events of the Revolutionary War weren’t always fixed history — they were once breaking news, eagerly and confusedly reported in New England’s tiny 18th century newspapers. For the colonists of the new world, the years of the American Revolution were a time of upheaval and rebellion. History boils it down to a few key events and has embodied it with a handful of legendary personalities. But the reality of the time was that everyday people witnessed thousands of little moments blaze into an epic conflict–for more than twenty years. Now, for the first time, experience the sparks of revolution the way the colonists did–in their very own town newspapers and broadsheets. Reporting the Revolutionary War is a stunning collection of primary sources, sprinkled with modern analysis from 37 historians. Featuring Patriot and Loyalist eyewitness accounts from newspapers printed on both sides of the Atlantic, readers will experience the revolution as it happened with the same immediacy and uncertainty of the colonists.
The American newspapers of the eighteenth century fanned the flames of rebellion, igniting the ideas of patriotism and liberty among average citizens who had never before been so strongly united. Within the papers, you’ll also read the private correspondence and battlefield letters of the rebels and patriots who grabbed the attention of colonists and pushed them to fight for freedom and change. “The newspapers… this is where you see the ideas of the Revolution and you see what it is that motivates people to go from simply being farmers or artisans or mechanics to being soldiers, or to signing onto a privateer, and to thinking that they can oppose the most powerful empire in the world and win,” said professor-author Robert J. Allison, one of the 37 historian contributors. From one of America’s leading Revolutionary War newspaper archivists, Todd Andrlik, and guided by scores of historians and experts, Reporting the Revolutionary War brings you into the homes of Americans and lets you see through their eyes the tinderbox of war as it explodes.
Leave your comments below to be entered to win. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday afternoons we will randomly select a winner (three total) and notify them via email and a comment below. Good luck!
Video embed: Reporting the Revolutionary War book trailer
14 Comments
These articles have been amazing. Wonderful work. The format is very solid too – as a web developer, I know this is not easy. Great work.
I was at a conference for educators at Fort Ticonderoga last week and we discussed what an important resource this book is.
Congratulations on 100 articles. They have been great.
I bought this book as a Christmas present to myself. It defies Santayana’s quote, “History is a pack of lies, written about people who weren’t there about events that never happened.” I’m a news junkie and this book fed my habit. In our age of instant information, it’s fascinating to see how our ancestors followed the events of the day.
I enjoy reading about our countries founding and this book is truly a magnificent way to learn about the true story of our founding and what was going o at the time of the revolution. I think it should be required reading in American History classes. I feel that Americans now do not really appreciated the hero’s who lost their lives or gave up their fortunes in the founding of this great nation.
I really enjoy this site. The articles are informative and I end up looking at some of the sources for more information. I’ve linked many of the articles to our collegiate historical society’s FB page for discussion there as well. Good work and thank you!
If I could travel through time, I would want to go back to this period in history. This book is the next best thing to a time machine!
As a former Barnes and Noble manager I can suggest that those that do not win, pick this book up at your local BN. You should be able to find it in the Bargain section at a great price. I always meant to pick it up after the price drop but failed to remember. Congrats on a fantastic History Blog, we historians need more of these!
A big mistake that writers of historical fiction make is to assume that their characters, whom they place in the thick of major historical conflicts, fully comprehend the long-term consequences of those conflicts. When you’re in the midst of such a conflict, you might have the sense that you’re involved in something big, but you don’t have the perspective of a historian who studies the conflict decades later.
While writing my own series set during the Southern theater of the American Revolution, I must constantly be on guard against giving my characters too much perspective. Reporting the Revolutionary War sounds like the sort of thing that anyone who is writing historical fiction should read for a reality check.
This book has helped my research a lot. I own a copy, but if the opportunity to have another is fulfilled, I will put it in the Anthony Wayne Ridgway Library at Historic Waynesborough for the members and guides to enjoy and learn from it.
Love the book and the website. Bought the book first day it was available. B & N later had editions that had facsimile copies of newspapers. My best friend gave me one of those in exchange for my original copy. I LOVE this book !!!!
I am enjoying this site, love reading these first had reports of the time. These are what my ancestors read often times or if they could not read had told to them. I had family that fought for the colonist, that fought for the British as a Cornet and those that just wanted to be left alone. To read the accounts of the times gives a different perspective than in a history class that doesn’t challenge your thinking. Great series and book.
Those who fail to study history are bound to repeat it. Soooo – studying this site and the articles and information is both well worth the effort, and educationally informative. Our historical heritage is one of the things that makes this still a great nation, and all – politicians, corporations, businesses, everyday citizens, students and scholars would be well advised to spend time reading this site!
Our Museum is proud to have a copy of your wonderful book on display in our Revolutionary War exhibit area.
This is a most valuable book, assembling numerous primary sources related to the American Revolution. It is destined to be a key component as we address the Common Core Standards.