One of the images Americans hold most dear is that of the drum-beating, fire-eating Yankee Doodle Dandy rebel, overpowering his British adversaries through sheer grit and determination. The myth of the classless, independence-minded farmer or hard-working artisan-turned-soldier is deeply ingrained in the national psyche. Charles Neimeyer here separates fact from fiction, revealing for the first time who really served in the army during the Revolution and why. His conclusions are startling. Because the army relied primarily on those not connected to the new American aristorcracy, the African Americans, Irish, Germans, Native Americans, laborers-for-hire, and "free white men on the move" who served in the army were only rarely alltruistic patriots driven by a vision of liberty and national unity. Bringing to light the true composition of the enlisted ranks, the relationships of African-Americans and of Native Americans to the army, and numerous acts of mutiny, desertion, and resistance against officers and government, Charles Patrick Neimeyer here provides the first comprehensive and historically accurate portrait of the Continental soldier.
0 有用 管疏玉 2012-07-29 10:19:44
上了一学期历史课唯一觉得好看而且不会卖掉的书,作者在某种意义上相当搞笑,基本上算是颠覆一般认知的了,什么正义自由之战都是浮云,说到底就是富人出钱,穷人送死。
0 有用 管疏玉 2012-07-29 10:19:44
上了一学期历史课唯一觉得好看而且不会卖掉的书,作者在某种意义上相当搞笑,基本上算是颠覆一般认知的了,什么正义自由之战都是浮云,说到底就是富人出钱,穷人送死。