Revolution Song

September 4, 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.