The New York Times Book Review - Lynne Cheney
"There is properly no history, only biography," Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote. Russell Shorto, in his new book…seems to be of similar mind. He writes about six people, all of whom lived in the Revolutionary era, but he does not roll them up into a single narrative or use their lives to bolster an overarching thesis. Instead, he artfully weaves their stories together and leaves it to the reader to draw conclusions. "I have tried not to preach or even teach," Shorto writes in the preface—and it proves a decidedly refreshing approach…Shorto's achievement is a remarkable one. The intertwined stories of Revolution Song give a sense of how far-reaching a phenomenon the War of Independence was. It leaves to readers the pleasure of judging what each of the figures in the book—or perhaps the combination of them all—contributed to an event that changed the world.
Publishers Weekly
09/04/2017
Shorto (Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City) brings the American Revolution to life in this vibrant account of six remarkable Revolutionary-era people, weaving together their stories to reflect on emergent understandings of individual freedom within the Atlantic world. Attuned to the cultural and political complexities of early America, Shorto examines well-known public figures—future president George Washington, Seneca warrior Cornplanter, and colonial administrator George Sackville—alongside those engaged in more private struggles for freedom: soldier’s daughter Margaret Moncrieffe; Venture Smith, an enslaved African man who later bought his freedom; and shoemaker Abraham Yates. Each character is portrayed as an individual, not an archetype. By paying close attention to the ways that particular lives unfold in the face of revolution, Shorto reflects on the emotional experience as well as the historical consequences of America’s violent birth. Readers interested in looking past America’s founding myths will be especially charmed by this history—George Washington, for one, appears in a new light as a devoted reader of self-help books with a penchant for fashion design. Though Shorto’s attempts to render the interior lives of his six characters can appear too speculative, his attention to everyday detail anchors his portraits and helps reveal the precariousness of freedom in an unequal, rapidly changing society. (Nov.)
Charles C. Mann
"Amazing: Russell Shorto shows us what a diverse, fascinating, cosmopolitan place this country has been since its founding."
Brian Greern Scholar
"Russell Shorto’s engaging new book appears at a moment when basic concepts of rights and equality are routinely disparaged. As if in response to our troubled political culture, he invites readers to return to the American Revolution to understand better how an 18th-century commitment to freedom took root and became a fundamental, unifying value in our nation’s history. . . . [Shorto has] produced a compelling work that reads almost like a good detective story. . . . Shorto deserves praise for reminding us of the complexity of freedom’s claims."
Gordon S. Wood
"An engaging, readable and surprisingly complete account of the American Revolution. A tour de force."
Amy Chua
"Brilliant, captivating and fast-paced, Revolution Song is a wonderfully original take on the American Revolution that reads like a thriller. I couldn’t put this book down."
Stacy Schiff
"How did the teenaged daughter of a British officer view the American Revolution, from behind enemy lines in New York? What did that contest mean to a shrewd, contemplative Iroquois warrior? Russell Shorto has emerged from the archives with a bold, largely neglected cast. He has set them free in a rich, prismatic narrative, as intensely vivid as it is seamlessly constructed."
Hampton Sides
"Russell Shorto has long had an astonishing talent for adjusting the focus in ways that make familiar swaths of history seem intriguingly foreign and fresh. With Revolution Song, he’s worked his magic again. Through his vigorous language, his mastery of archival sources and the pleasing interweave of his six carefully chosen characters, Shorto has composed a powerful polyphonic story, simultaneously grand and intimate, that makes us hear (and see and feel) the tumult of our nation’s founding as never before."
New York Times Book Review
"Shorto’s achievement is a remarkable one. The intertwined stories of Revolution Song give a sense of how far-reaching a phenomenon the War of Independence was. It leaves to readers the pleasure of judging what each of the figures in the book—or perhaps the combination of them all—contributed to an event that changed the world."
Chicago Tribune
"An engaging piece of historical detective work and narrative craft."
Howard Fineman
"With symphonic sweep, cinematic detail and compelling, superbly researched real-life characters, Shorto shows how our struggle for freedom began and why it remains so sadly unfinished. If Spielberg wrote history, this is how it would read."
American Scholar - Brian Greer
"Russell Shorto’s engaging new book appears at a moment when basic concepts of rights and equality are routinely disparaged. As if in response to our troubled political culture, he invites readers to return to the American Revolution to understand better how an 18th-century commitment to freedom took root and became a fundamental, unifying value in our nation’s history. . . . [Shorto has] produced a compelling work that reads almost like a good detective story. . . . Shorto deserves praise for reminding us of the complexity of freedom’s claims."
Library Journal
10/15/2017
Shorto (The Island at the Center of the World) depicts the American Revolution through the experiences of six individuals: Venture Smith, a slave who remade himself into a prosperous free man; George Germain, who directed Britain's war effort; Cornplanter, an Iroquois chief who fought alongside the British; Abraham Yates, who democratized New York politics; George Washington, who commanded the rebel army; and Margaret Coghlan, née Moncrieffe, who defied gender norms. Caught up in war and intrigue, each of these figures provides insight into the era's tumultuous sociopolitical conditions. And their lives make for great stories. Germain was once court-martialed and nearly shot for refusing to obey orders. While leading a raid, Cornplanter happened to capture his own father, a white man. Coghlan was a British officer's daughter who irritated Washington, fell in love with future vice president Aaron Burr and flouted convention as a companion to sundry British lords and politicians. VERDICT A sprawling, engaging social and political history, Shorto's spin on the American Revolution never bores and often pleases. Public libraries should see high circulation.—Michael Rodriguez, Univ. of Connecticut
Kirkus Reviews
2017-08-29
Americans' struggle for freedom and independence affected a wide range of individuals.Aiming to reveal the reality of life in the Colonies and Britain before and during the Revolution, Shorto (Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City, 2013, etc.) focuses on six different people: George Washington; British aristocrat and statesman George Germain, Lord Sackville; Venture Smith, an African-born slave; Abraham Yates, a shoemaker who rose to become mayor of his native Albany, New York; Cornplanter, a Seneca warrior; and Margaret Coghlan, the American-born daughter of a British officer. Except for Washington and Sackville, the protagonists are little known, which affords the author a fresh and often fascinating perspective on 18th-century life. Drawing on memoirs, letters, archival material, and much historical writing, he fashions a brisk chronological narrative that jumps from one individual to another. Smith's story is especially lively: a tall, strapping young man, he quickly learned "how to leverage his position" even though he was enslaved and managed to buy freedom for himself—and eventually for his wife and children. Settling in Stonington, Connecticut, he amassed considerable property, so much that when his former owner fell into bankruptcy, Smith offered him a mortgage on 100-plus acres of land, and, in the transaction, managed to provide an inheritance for his own son. Yates emerges as a complicated character: working for popular representation, nevertheless he was "convinced that government, any government, was a thing to be mistrusted," growing ever more powerful, "always at the expense of individuals." He was opposed to ratifying the Constitution because it gave the federal government "vast powers" and therefore was pleasantly surprised at the creation of the Bill of Rights, which ensured individual freedoms. Coghlan seems the most arbitrary—and unrepresentative—of Shorto's choices: young, intelligent, and well bred, she was beautiful enough to attract many indulgent lovers in America and abroad, where she ended her life in penury. If Coghlan "felt the pull of freedom," still Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Gloria Steinem hardly seem to be her "ideological descendants." An intimate look at life in tumultuous times.
