THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARIES

It is a cause for true rejoicing when history is rendered lively and interesting to young readers. Meltzer has gathered a brisk, entertaining, thought-provoking collection of documents, letters, accounts and speeches, and has joined them with brief statements that not only introduce each piece but also tie them together. The result is an account of the Revolution, in the words of people who were there, that would delight anyone interested in history. The words are taken, for the most part, from younger sources—people under 30 who migrated to America, who fought in the war or who kept home fires burning, and who (like Tom Paine) formed political theory. Meltzer chooses the words of common people: a woman who keeps house for 22 people worries more about her rising bread than the war; a shoeless soldier whose commander "had ever been so kind to me" dies urging him not to "give up the hill!" Washington is seen through the loving and admiring eyes of his men; battles become real as the terrain is solidly described by farmers' pens. It's a fresh, wide-based, stirring view of a suddenly-real war, and should be available to all young readers.