The Minutemen and Their World

The following is my book review for a history class. It is far from perfect but perhaps can help you start your own critical analysis. The book tells an unconventional story of the American Revolution by analyzing the ordinary city of Concord, Massachusetts as a microcosm of colonial America. Gross argues that the struggle for independence from Britain was not a revolution but a conservative social struggle - a struggle with patriarchal control, religious zealotry, individualism, and localized control of government. The first point of contention in Concord was unequal representation attributed to citizen's proximity to the town meeting hall - those who were physically closer dominated public opinion and policy. The town would also struggle with church and state - ministers were subsidized by the town and it was not possible to keep each citizen happy with the majority's choice. Local representation was another source of disagreement - the mid-eighteenth century government was influenced by (if not controlled from) England, an ocean away. Representation was worsened when the British levied heavy taxes to finance the Seven Years War. The popular majority fought against the colonial government who favored the hand that empowered them, if not fed them. Primary documents note the latter: "there is no greater...corruption...than when...executive officers depend...on a power independent of the people". In the afterword, Gross explains his left-leaning ideological influences and how they shaped the topic of his research, his approach, and conclusions. Gross uses historical public records to tell a story, attributing emotion and motivation to statistical trends. Personalizing quantitative data will naturally have a bias, but Gross manages to keep from overwhelming the reader with his own conclusions by letting the reader draw his own. Academics have used Gross's work to compare Vietnam to the American Revolution - Gross acknowledges the idea but leaves it out of the main text. The most compelling argument Gross makes demonstrates the loss of patriarchal control in Concord, and presumably across the colonies. He describes how sons rely on fathers for land, and daughters rely on fathers for dowries. As the economic climate changes, dowries are reduced, local fertile land becomes scarce and grown children have incentives to leave the family to pursue the frontier. This costs the father his source of labor (as slavery was not the dominant labor in Massachusetts) and costs the children the source of inheritance and stability. Gross approaches each argument in a similar manner - he tells a personal story backed by quantitative research. In the patriarchy argument he tells of the emigration of Purchase Brown, unable to sustain himself on his father's meager farm. Quantitatively, Gross notes that 1 in every 4 taxpayers moved away from Concord in every decade from the 1740s onward. The Minutemen and Their World was revolutionary in per

I agree wholeheartedly with editorial reviewer David Hackett Fisher. This book reads almost like a novel, and yet it is a work of history--with solid research and scholarship, at that. Gross argues that the Revolution provided Concord an opportunity to re-assert control over the community and its destiny. In the years preceding 1775-1776, great changes were sweeping across the colonies, particularly in traditional New England towns like Concord. For example, there was the problem of decreasing supplies of land, and fathers, with sometimes large numbers of sons, had difficulty providing for all his heirs (without dividing the land and, hence, making it less sustainable). Other issues were occurring specifically in Concord--such as the desire of its residents farther from the town to hire their own minister. So threatened, Concord was experiencing not just stasis but actual decline in these pre-Revolution years.Therefore, with all these fluctuations and challenges, participation in the Revolution offered Concord a chance to seize initiative and regain control over its political and communal life, to restore its autonomy. Gross writes, "The men of 1775 had not gone to war to promote change but to stop it."

"The Minutemen and Their World" is a very well written account of the people and culture of Concord, Massachusetts in the years leading up to the American Revolution. Robert Gross did a tremendous amount of research to find information about individuals whose names and accomplishments have long since been forgotten by the world, but he tells their story so thoroughly that he allows the reader to forget what a challenging task he took upon himself. In this book, which was published shortly after the Vietnam War and without ever mentioning that conflict highlights some interesting parallels between it and the American Revolution, Gross asks the reader to question why these colonists, who were content to oversee local affairs and leave even the most important colonial and national matters to outsiders, would get caught up in the American Revolution, and the book provides some interesting answers. This book takes a refreshing look at colonial America and provides its readers with incredible data from the period; it will certainly benefit all scholars and mere colonial history buffs.

Robert Gross has produced a work that is a pleasure to read in examining the town of Concord, through the lives of ordinary townspeople, before and after that memorable day of the 19 April 1775.This indeed is 'bottom-up' history but Gross ensures the interest never wanes through his sensitive and vibrant narrative.There were only some 1500 persons(about 265 families) in this very special town that witnessed the first battle of the American Revolution(although the first shots were fired in neighbouring Lexington, that was hardly a battle).Gross produces some interesting social 'gems' such as magistrates being regarded as 'fathers' to the people. Modern western society has long since ceased to have such faith in the judiciary-in fact they are often regarded as the enemy within! Church politics also had a larger significance in the life of 18th century Concordians than today.The aftermath of the Great Awakening (the huge spiritual revivals that swept the American colonies between the late 1730s and early 1740s) is also covered well by Gross in discussing the stuggles between the Old and New Lights. The battles of Dr Joseph Lee, for church membership, are particularly interesting. Gross also highlights the strains of war and the decrease in military enlistments from Concord as the war progresses. As a study of a community in an important era of America's history this social history is highly recommended.

Two thumbs up! I was required to read this book for a course in Colonial American History at Bates College. If you're at all interested in Colonial New England, especially the events leading up to the Battles of Lexington and Concord - read this book! It's a great account of what it was like to be a Minuteman in colonial Massachusetts.