history/geography

Item Description

This is a fast-paced, entertaining and enlightening review of the creation of the United States. 

In this volume, John Hyde Preston attempted to debunk many popularly held beliefs about the American Revolution.  The book declares, among other things, that the Declaration of Independence was made on July 2, not July 4, that John Hancock did not sign it until 47 days later, that the Liberty Bell never pealed the glad tidings, and that Betsy Ross did not sew the country’s first flag (Frances Hopkinson did, the author said.) Preston also maintained that more Americans probably served with the British than with the Continental Army.

Herschel Brickell, the editor and critic, wrote, “Mr. Preston is no conventional historian. He knows his subject as well as anyone, but he breaks with tradition in writing entertainingly. This is a fine book.“

However, years later, Howard Fast, the historical novelist, decried Preston’s work in a long essay, published in 1950. For instance, citing Preston’s description of a revolt of troops corralled by Mad Anthony Wayne, Fast asks, “Where did Mr. Preston get his information and what prompted this gratuitous slander of brave men – so much in the style of today – who had fought tirelessly and well for five years?” 

John Hyde Preston was born in 1906 in New York City. He wrote articles for Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, McCalls, Holiday, and other magazines and lived in many places both in the United States and the world (Italy, Denmark, and Iceland). 

Used - excellent condition. There is one scraped area on the top right front cover and slight yellowing around the page edges; all else is immaculate, particularly given that the book is 88 years old.

Published 1933.  501 pages.  6-1/2 x 4-1/2 x 1"  Hardback

 

 

 

Item Special Note

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