CLOSURE: Central Library will be closed Tuesday, July 21, through Saturday, July 25, while emergency repairs are made to the building’s cooling system. We expect to reopen Monday, July 27. Click for more details on holds, program schedules, and returns during the closure. 

Notice of Public Meeting: Kalamazoo Public Library Board of Trustees | July 27 | 5:30 pm | Central Library/Van Deusen Room. The packet of information for the meeting can be found on the library’s website. 

NOTICE: Due to a power outage, Oshtemo Branch Library is closed Tuesday, July 21 until further notice.  

Book

Liberty is sweet : the hidden history of the American Revolution

Call Number

  • 973.3 H7588 (CEN)

Browse similar titles by call number

Edition

First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.

Publication Information

New York : Simon & Schuster, 2021.

Physical Description

779 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Summary

"A sweeping reassessment of the American Revolution, showing how the Founders were influenced by overlooked Americans--women, Native Americans, African Americans, and religious dissenters. Using more than a thousand eyewitness accounts, Liberty Is Sweet explores countless connections between the Patriots of 1776 and other Americans whose passion for freedom often brought them into conflict with the Founding Fathers. 'It is all one story,' prizewinning historian Woody Holton writes. Holton describes the origins and crucial battles of the Revolution from Lexington and Concord to the British surrender at Yorktown, always focusing on marginalized Americans--enslaved Africans and African Americans, Native Americans, women, and dissenters--and on overlooked factors such as weather, North America's unique geography, chance, misperception, attempts to manipulate public opinion, and (most of all) disease. Thousands of enslaved Americans exploited the chaos of war to obtain their own freedom, while others were given away as enlistment bounties to whites. Women provided material support for the troops, sewing clothes for soldiers and in some cases taking part in the fighting. Both sides courted native people and mimicked their tactics. Liberty Is Sweet gives us our most complete account of the American Revolution, from its origins on the frontiers and in the Atlantic ports to the creation of the Constitution. Offering surprises at every turn--for example, Holton makes a convincing case that Britain never had a chance of winning the war--this majestic history revivifies a story we thought we already knew."--

Subjects