Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution (The American Revolution Series Book 1)
The bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea, Mayflower, and In the Hurricane's Eye tells the story of the Boston battle that ignited the American Revolution, in this "masterpiece of narrative and perspective." (Boston Globe)
In the opening volume of his acclaimed American Revolution series, Nathaniel Philbrick turns his keen eye to pre-Revolutionary Boston and the spark that ignited the American Revolution. In the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party and the violence at Lexington and Concord, the conflict escalated and skirmishes gave way to outright war in the Battle of Bunker Hill. It was the bloodiest conflict of the revolutionary war, and the point of no return for the rebellious colonists. Philbrick gives us a fresh view of the story and its dynamic personalities, including John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, and George Washington. With passion and insight, he reconstructs the revolutionary landscape—geographic and ideological—in a mesmerizing narrative of the robust, messy, blisteringly real origins of America.
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
Bogs down in details and singular anecdotes.
I read his book called "In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex" and decided to give another of his history books a chance as I enjoyed it most of the way. Unfortunately this is not really a history book in this spectacular category of history books that follows a certain story with a singular focus and not too many characters. The whale book was really great in that we constantly knew where we were and who was there. It had few characters and few locations. The best possible way to retell a historical event.
This book on the other hand is focused on the whole UK vs. USA conflict in Boston and it's a huge conflict where many important people don't even meet each other. If you want to read it for the history that's great. It has a ton of info on small events and various interesting people with curious personalities. The different groups and crazy Americans are fun to read about and it's a very impressive history project that will truly be an interesting read for history fanatics. But personally I don't really feel like I know that much about the Battle of Bunker Hill now. I didn't feel like I stepped into the past and lived the story because it's not one story. It's a lot of people all doing their own thing in various areas around Boston. Often new characters will appear and do something somewhat important and then we move on to some new character doing something equally important. I frankly had a hard time following the events and the geography of things. A lot of people did a lot of things and I'm supposed to have understood all of it and seen the meetings and battles in my head. But that's not possible unless you already have a clear vision of Boston and the battle. It just feels like stuff happens. It's not really a problem with the history it's rather that it's presented from 100 point of views and without images, as an audiobook, I stood no chance.
I still think it's a good piece of work. But even if you know American history fairly well you'll have a hard time with this book unless you really focus or even better yet, have watched a documentary about the battle before you read the book. Even so it will be hard to fully get into.
It's a shame but a 2 hour documentary will be a way better, more informative and easier intro than this book. Very unfortunate for most readers. It's also not one of the history books I didn't get but felt like I could reread another day if I really wanted to get it. Here I'm just interested in documentaries now. I won't really feel the need to read something this specific yet unfocused.
But yes, as history goes this is a good book. Just be sure it's for you before you invest in it. The clear writing and emotional stories are top tier by themselves.
I read his book called "In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex" and decided to give another of his history books a chance as I enjoyed it most of the way. Unfortunately this is not really a history book in this spectacular category of history books that follows a certain story with a singular focus and not too many characters. The whale book was really great in that we constantly knew where we were and who was there. It had few characters and few locations. The best possible way to retell a historical event.
This book on the other hand is focused on the whole UK vs. USA conflict in Boston and it's a huge conflict where many important people don't even meet each other. If you want to read it for the history that's great. It has a ton of info on small events and various interesting people with curious personalities. The different groups and crazy Americans are fun to read about and it's a very impressive history project that will truly be an interesting read for history fanatics. But personally I don't really feel like I know that much about the Battle of Bunker Hill now. I didn't feel like I stepped into the past and lived the story because it's not one story. It's a lot of people all doing their own thing in various areas around Boston. Often new characters will appear and do something somewhat important and then we move on to some new character doing something equally important. I frankly had a hard time following the events and the geography of things. A lot of people did a lot of things and I'm supposed to have understood all of it and seen the meetings and battles in my head. But that's not possible unless you already have a clear vision of Boston and the battle. It just feels like stuff happens. It's not really a problem with the history it's rather that it's presented from 100 point of views and without images, as an audiobook, I stood no chance.
I still think it's a good piece of work. But even if you know American history fairly well you'll have a hard time with this book unless you really focus or even better yet, have watched a documentary about the battle before you read the book. Even so it will be hard to fully get into.
It's a shame but a 2 hour documentary will be a way better, more informative and easier intro than this book. Very unfortunate for most readers. It's also not one of the history books I didn't get but felt like I could reread another day if I really wanted to get it. Here I'm just interested in documentaries now. I won't really feel the need to read something this specific yet unfocused.
But yes, as history goes this is a good book. Just be sure it's for you before you invest in it. The clear writing and emotional stories are top tier by themselves.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.