This is a 'gritty' account of the events at Boston that led to the spark of the American Revolution. Gritty in that it is a rendition that is not often told - exposing a good bit of the selfish motivations and oafish methods of our forefathers. Why any of this surprises should be the surprise. American historiography probably got off to a bad start with the 'gushing' Parson Weems-style renditions so popular in the 19th century, placing the founders on a pedestal of reverence impossible to fully justify even with a cursory examination, and then it became the expectation.
Author Harlow Giles Unger begins "American Tempest" with 'first principals': in this account, the founders are humans and decidedly not saints. The story exposes motivations - not always - but often led by economics, or personal power: no differently than today. The British quandary over American reaction to a relatively trivial tax, on a commodity unimportant in American society, for a purpose essential to American security can be understood. For the Americans, there was an essential indignity underlying the whole of the taxes that had less to do with economics than dignity. The colonies had matured to a point that their control by a parliament thousands of miles away, led by an effete class, in which they held no sway at all became the real ignitor for the conflagration that followed.
A very recommended read, "American Tempest" treats an old topic in a modern light. Unger's writing style is certain, urgent, and efficient. The story is relatively brief by today's standards, 240 pages plus afterward materials, which keeps it well paced and on-topic and told so compellingly that a 5th star is justified. Once let go of the notion of the 'Sainted Founder', the reader is exposed to the events in a way that gets to a clearer understanding of BOTH sides, and at the end much better enlightens, yet still leaves the pedestals of the founders untoppled. Also - for a British view of the whole Revolution see O'Shaughnessy's brilliant:
The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire
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a wonderful read and clarifies many details of what lead to the American Revolution.
“American Tempest” by Harlow Giles Unger, is a wonderful read and clarifies many details of what lead to the American Revolution. It also clarified the questions on the first President of the Continental Congress. I will read this book again and use it as a reference for many years to come.This is not a favorable book for the men who set the quest for liberty for the common man. The writer sets the landscape of the American Revolution based on Greed; after my completion of this reading my observations of George Washington was motivated after the Quebec Act was passed by Parliament, and not for the motivations of the common man and liberty. Before the Quebec act was passed Washington’s opinion of the proponents of the Tea party was not favorable.
