The Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution

Judson, L. CarrollProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.8
Word count
1.3M words
Chapters
133

Tags

English Originals World HistoryHistorical Figures Historical ReappraisalMilitary StrategyPolitical TurmoilWar of IndependencePortrait GalleryGroup BiographyHeroismHeroic EnsembleCivic AwarenessPatriotism

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution by L. Carroll JudsonAuthor: Judson, L. Carroll (Levi Carroll),Language: English, Class: E201: History: America: Revolution (1775-1783), Release Date: Oct 25, 2010

Editor's review

This book belongs to the genre of biographical works on figures of the American Revolution, with the author using "sages and heroes" as a thread to write biographies of Revolutionary-era figures, combining historical narrative with character tributes. Its value lies not in offering new sources or interpretations but in presenting nineteenth-century Americans' collective memory and moral imagination of the founding generation: the prose carries an unmistakably celebratory tone, emphasizing character, conviction, and public duty, reading more like a collection of exemplary lives. For today's Chinese readers, it serves as supplementary material for understanding the tradition of narrating American Revolutionary history, to be read alongside modern scholarship to observe how the same events were written in different eras. The original is in English, with an old-fashioned style, long sentences, and considerable rhetoric, requiring some patience. It is best treated as a cultural-historical sourcebook rather than an introductory survey; reading it after grasping the basic outline of the Revolution will be more rewarding. The free electronic edition provided by Project Gutenberg is convenient for searching and excerpting, suitable for thematic reading and verifying quotations.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read a modern general history of the American Revolution first as a foundation, then read this book to better discern its narrative tendencies.
  2. Jump between chapters by figure, checking the relevant historical facts after each one and building your own comparative notes.
  3. Pay attention to the words the author uses to evaluate figures and his standards of praise and blame, treating the book as a sample of period attitudes.
  4. With the many long old-style English sentences, first grasp the gist of a paragraph, then return to difficult sentences and unfamiliar words.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

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FAQ

Is this book a rigorous academic history? No. It is closer to nineteenth-century character portraits and moral tributes, heavy on praise and light on verification, with limited annotation and source criticism. It is suitable as material for understanding how Americans of the time viewed the founding generation; for research, read it alongside modern scholarship and do not rely on it alone as a source of historical fact.
Can I read this book if my English is not good? You can try, but be prepared. The original is nineteenth-century English with long sentences, considerable rhetoric, and many unfamiliar words and allusions. It is advisable to use a dictionary or read alongside a translation, start with chapters on figures you know, or read selected passages rather than forcing yourself through from beginning to end.
In what order should I read this book? There is no need to follow the original order. Start with the chapters on Revolutionary figures or events you know best to establish a reading rhythm; or group them by theme, such as military, political, and diplomatic figures, and compare the author's praise and blame across them.
What uses is the electronic edition suited to? The Project Gutenberg edition is free and easy to search in full, suitable for locating passages on specific figures, excerpting quotations, and doing thematic comparative reading; it is also easy to copy into note-taking software for organizing. For formal citation, you still need to verify the edition information and original page numbers.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Judson, L. Carroll Author

L. Carroll Judson was an American writer about whose life little is known; public information is limited, and his nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly recorded. Judging from the two works held in the collection, he focused on the figures of the American Revolution and the founding era. His representative works are The Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution and A Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, and of Washington. The former recounts the sages and heroes of the Revolution in biographical form, while the latter offers biographies of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and of Washington. His writing has a clear commemorative and instructive character, emphasizing the character and achievements of the founding figures in dignified, plain prose suitable for general readers interested in early American history. His works occupy a modest place among nineteenth-century American patriotic biographies and remain useful reference material for the study of early American historical narrative.