The book Fighting over the Founders: How We Remember the American Revolution, written by Andrew M. Schocket, focuses on the legacy of the American Revolution and its importance today. Schocket is an Associate Professor of History and American Culture Studies in a university in Ohio known as Bowling Green State. Due to his knowledge of history, Schocket is qualified to compose a book focused on the American Revolution. The Revolution was a rebellion of the Thirteen Colonies against Great Britain, over the issue of independence. A major catalyst of the Revolution was the numerous amount of taxes British Parliament put on the Americans. In the summer of 1774, the First Continental Congress approved a call to take up arms against Britain, and the Continental Army was organized by the Second Continental Congress in May of 1775. After the war began, the Declaration of Independence was written and it was signed by 56 delegates of the Second Continental Congress. It stated that the thirteen colonies would be independent of British rule. The war ended with an American victory and the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which formally ended the war and secured American Independence. The American Revolution was a watershed event in American history, and Schocket did an exceptional job at describing the Revolution and its impact on society today.
One aspect of the book is that many people use the American Revolution to their advantage in political speeches. After researching over eighty political campaigns, Schocket discusses how many Presidential candidates incorporated the Revolution in their speeches, using it to gain political support. One analyzation made by Schocket was that generally, a party that was not in power would acknowledge the American Revolution more than a party in power would. This was possibly done to bring in more supporters to their party. The author expresses these ideas very well as he considers every possible reason for these trends and does so in a polished, yet self-aware manner.
Another major aspect of this book is the two points of view depicted by people, being “essentialist” and “organicist”. The essentialist outlook is a strict, concrete, and absolute stance on the historiography of the American Revolution. This stance sees the founders of the Revolution as demigods who wrote the Declaration of Independence. They believe that history is a distinguished text with a single meaning. On the other hand, the organicist view is that there is a great amount of flexibility when interpreting history. They believe that there may be many views on a single subject and no concrete truth. In addition, organicists promote diversity and many different cultures in their opinions. These two points of view are mentioned throughout the book, demonstrating their thoughts on various topics of the Revolution. Schocket prefers the organicist point of view because he believes that a concrete belief would spark a divide among the people. However, Schocket still describes the beliefs of both points of view the same, restricting any of his personal bias. This was a very effective way to present the points of view as it allows the reader to create their own opinion on the subject.
One final aspect of this book is how the American Revolution is depicted in museums and other historical sites. Schocket traveled over three thousand miles to take part in over sixty different historical activities. Schocket realized that the main theme among most of these sites was liberty. However, due to the short attention span of some audiences, and the motivation to lure in as many visitors as possible, Schocket states that many sites and museums are not exactly accurate. He says that while it is a problem that these sites may influence our opinion on the Revolution, these sites can still work the mind and benefit humans due to the setting of these sites. Schocket states these ideas in a very effective way by providing the evidence of his research to back his claims. Schocket’s writing is also very efficient in that it states the positives and negatives of historical sites.
The book, Fighting over the Founders: How We Remember the American Revolution, is a very helpful historical reference about the American Revolution. While being greatly informative, it was also quite entertaining and sometimes even funny. It is evident that the author cares deeply of the subject through his research and presentation. One minor weakness of the book was that it was sometimes difficult to follow what Schocket was saying. This made it hard for the book to become an accessible learning experience. While the book is informative about the Revolution, it focuses more on the impact of it in today’s society. I would recommend this book to a friend that is interested in the American Revolution and would like to analyze the current impact of it.