Synopses & Reviews
Americans know about the Boston Tea Party and the shot heard round the world,” but sixteen months divided these two iconic events, a period that has nearly been lost to history.
The Spirit of '74 fills in this gap in our nations founding narrative, showing how in these mislaid months, step by step, real people made a revolution.
After the Tea Party, Parliament not only shut down a port but also revoked the sacred Massachusetts charter. Completely disenfranchised, citizens rose up as a body and cast off British rule everywhere except in Boston, where British forces were stationed. A Spirit of 74” initiated the American Revolution, much as the better-known Spirit of 76” sparked independence. Redcoats marched on Lexington and Concord to take back a lost province, but they encountered Massachusetts militiamen who had trained for months to protect the revolution they had already made.
The Spirit of 74 places our founding moment in a rich and new historical context, both changing and deepening its meaning for all Americans.
Review
"Ray and Marie Raphael provide readers with the lively story of how, starting with the Boston Tea Party, Massachusetts turned from resistance to revolution in a single year. Using well-chosen quotations from participants, as well as revealing anecdotes, their masterful narrative brings to life the human drama of this grassroots transformation."
Richard Brown, Distinguished Professor of History emeritus, University of Connecticut
"A well-conceived work of popular history that fills a gap in the chronology of the American Revolution."
Kirkus
About the Author
Ray Raphaels seventeen books include A Peoples History of the American Revolution, The First American Revolution, Founders, Constitutional Myths, and Founding Myths. He is a senior research fellow at Humboldt State University. Marie Raphael, author of two historical novels, has taught literature and writing at Boston University, College of the Redwoods, and Humboldt State University. They live in Northern California.