Review Of Paul Revere's Ride By David Hackett Fischer

The book Paul Revere’s Ride was written by the author, David Hackett Fischer. The idea of this book is to tell about an historical event many people have heard of but, misunderstood it because he did not just do anything alone like many believe. Nowadays, Paul Revere is someone people do not talk about or acknowledge (like I have), people have began to sweep him and what he did under the rug. Paul Revere has been described by the author as an amazing man and that every little detail was important. Revere was a businessman with his silversmith and goldsmith skills, but more importantly this book examines not only Paul Revere (Patriots), but also British General Thomas Gage (the “British”).

The story most of us know is a man named Paul Revere rode on a horse and yelled to a town to warn that “The British are coming”. Fischer in this book wants to make it clear that there is no way he ever said that because the colonists at the time still considered themselves British. Fischer goes into detail about many aspects of what went on, and how it all got around in good timing. In the chapter “The Alarm”, on the first page of the chapter he has important quotes regarding the chapter, which he does on the beginning of every chapter page.

One of the important quotes he imputed this time was, “The men appointed to alarm the country on such occasions…took their different routes.” -American leader John Adams, April 19, 1775. It was like Revere initially started a movement. He got everyone to work together and do things for what they believe in. Fischer wanted to portray the message that in contrary to what many people believe there is more to the story of the “great” Paul Revere and prove it with evidence. While reading this book it is obvious that word would get around fast, and people knew what other people were doing. For example “Forewarned by friend in London, they knew that the British army was about to move against them, but not precisely where or when”.

How do people figure out all of these things if they did not have technology like we do now? It's interesting that neither side could do anything with secrecy. People had a sense of what was going to happen just not every detail because no one ever knows the full details of something when it comes to passing around. Something gets left out or things get jumbled up. Every movement of the British was reported to the Whig leaders (political party) by locals supporters and every movement of the patriots was reported to the British by Tory supporters (conservative). They were all mixed in together and they even had spies to help get information. People would be reporting to the “other side” whether you knew it or not. Things like this could have caused lack of trust within families and friends at this time.In my opinion I did not really like this book that much.

I personally believe it is pretty boring in some areas, because I hate when things drag out for so long, which this book did for me. At some points I would be reading but not listening or comprehending what I was reading. I feel as though if the author went straight to the main points instead of dragging things along it would have been so much better. I say that because sometimes I like to learn about important events, but I don’t want to have to learn every little detail about it because I won’t remember it all anyways since I will doze off. I feel like if there was another book about “Paul Revere’s Ride” that was in a way, straight to the point I would have retained more important information. On the other hand I like the deeper message that it gives, which is that people should fight for their homes and their freedom, like the event of Paul Revere’s Ride.