Book cover of Scars Of Independence

Book description

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE

A magisterial new work that rewrites the story of America's founding

The American Revolution is often portrayed as an orderly, restrained rebellion, with brave patriots defending their noble ideals against an oppressive empire. It's a stirring narrative, and one the founders did…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Scars Of Independence as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I found this book to be a much-needed challenge to the myth that the American Revolution was not tarnished by unnecessary violence. I’ve done a lot of research on the Revolution and found that Alexander Hamilton’s claim that it was an orderly process free from the violence that characterized the French Revolution was flat wrong. That’s why I was happy to find this book.

Although I was familiar with some of the events Hoock describes, I still found some of these accounts of cruelty and viciousness painful to read. Nevertheless, I’m happy that the author has made readers aware of…

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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