A sweeping narrative of the wartime experience, A People's History of the American Revolution is the first book to view the revolution through the eyes of common folk. Their stories have long been overlooked in the mythic telling of America's founding, but are crucial to a comprehensive understanding of the fight for independence. Now, the experiences of farmers, laborers, rank and file soldiers, women, Native Americans, and African Americans -- found in diaries, letters, memoirs and other long-ignored primary sources -- create a gritty account of rebellion, filled with ideals and outrage, loss, sacrifice, and sometimes scurrilous acts...but always ringing with truth.

A People's History of the American Revolution: How Common People Shaped the Fight for Independence

History

Raphael, Ray

Americas

Harper-perennial

In twenty-two original essays, leading historians reveal the radical impulses at the founding of the American Republic. Here is a fresh, new reading of the American Revolution that gives voice and recognition to a generation of radical thinkers and doers whose revolutionary ideals outstripped those of the “Founding Fathers.” While the Founding Fathers advocated a break from Britain and espoused ideals of republican government, none proposed significant changes to the fabric of colonial society. Yet during this “revolutionary” period some people did believe that “liberty” meant “liberty for all” and that “equality” should be applied to political, economic, and religious spheres. Here are the stories of individuals and groups who exemplified the radical ideals of the American Revolution more in keeping with our own values today. This volume helps us to understand the social conflicts unleashed by the struggle for independence, the Revolution’s achievements, and the unfinished agenda it left to future generations to confront.

Revolutionary Founders: Rebels, Radicals, and Reformers in the Making of the Nation

Vintage

The little-known story of the dramatic political maneuverings and personalities behind the creation of the office of the president, with ramifications that continue to this day. On June 1, 1787, when the Federal Convention first talked of establishing a new executive branch, James Wilson moved that “the Executive consist of a single person.” To us this might sound obvious, but not so at the time. Americans had just won their independence from an autocratic monarch, and they feared that a single leader might commandeer power or oppress citizens. Should the framers even flirt with one-man rule? For the first and only time that summer, there was silence. Not one of the loquacious delegates dared speak up. Eventually Benjamin Franklin rose, then others. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Mason joined the debate, and for three months their deliberations continued. By early September the framers had made up their minds. A chief executive, the “president,” would be appointed by Congress to serve for seven years. He could not be reelected, and his powers were tightly constrained. He could neither negotiate treaties nor appoint Supreme Court justices and ambassadors. The Senate would do all that. Suddenly, less than two weeks before the convention adjourned, all this changed. How? And who made it happen? Enter Gouverneur Morris, the flamboyant, peg-legged hero of this saga, who pushed through his agenda with amazing political savvy and not a little bluster and deceit. For the first time, by focusing closely on the give-and-take of the convention’s dynamics, Ray Raphael reveals how politics and personalities cobbled together a lasting, but flawed, institution. Charting the presidency as it evolved during the administrations of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, Raphael shows how, given the Constitution’s broad outlines, the president’s powers could easily be augmented but rarely diminished. Today we see the result—an office that has become more sweeping, more powerful, and more inherently partisan than the framers ever intended. And the issues of 1787—whether the Electoral College, the president’s war powers, or the extent of executive authority—continue to stir our political debates.

Mr. President: How and Why the Founders Created a Chief Executive

KNOPF

The dramatic and penetrating story of the political maneuverings and personalities behind the creation of the office of the president, with ramifications that continue to this day. For the first time, by focusing closely on the dynamic give-and-take at the Constitutional Convention, Ray Raphael reveals how politics and personalities cobbled together a lasting, but flawed, executive office. Remarkably, the hero of this saga is Gouverneur Morris, a flamboyant, peg-legged delegate who pushed through his agenda with amazing political savvy, and not a little deceit. Without Morris’s perseverance, a much weaker American president would be appointed by Congress, serve for seven years, could not be reelected, and have his powers tightly constrained. Charting the presidency as it evolved during the administrations of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, Raphael shows how, given the Constitution’s broad outlines, the president’s powers could easily be augmented but rarely diminished. Today we see the result—an office that has become more sweeping, more powerful, and more inherently partisan than the framers ever intended. And the issues of 1787—whether the Electoral College, the president’s war powers, or the extent of executive authority—continue to stir our political debates.

'An everyday history,' says Ray Raphael, 'tells of the people, the places, and the times which other books are in too much of a hurry to talk about.' He is a young man, city-born, who settled five years ago in the California north. Fascinated by the place, the people, the minutiae of life in the backwoods, he has put together an 'everyday history' of his own particular 'somewhere'...the coastal hills near the Oregon border. In a loving narrative, he tells us of the day-to-day story of the ordinary people, animals, and plants that have lived in this place. What an everyday Indian did for livelihood and play. What happens to a forest as it grows and to an animal as it hunts or is hunted. How Russian trappers, Spanish seamen, and Anglo gold miners swept through, changing the lives of the otters, the seals, the forests...and the Indians. How homesteaders, loggers, and finally today's new pioneers came to stay, and how their lifestyles affected the landscape and were affected by it. We learn firsthand about the working day of lumberjacks, professional soldiers, elk (and potatoes); about the 'place' in the woods of rivers, coyotes, the tan oak acorn; and about life on the homesteads and in frontier towns. In his fine pen-and-ink drawings, Mark Livingston transmutes old historical prints and advertisements, together with new glimpses of the countryside and its creatures, into a feeling illumination of the narrative.

An everyday history of somewhere, being the true story of Indians,: Deer, homesteaders, potatoes, loggers, trees, fishermen, salmon, & other living things in the backwoods of northern California,

"One of the season's real charmers. . . .The reader feels generation after generation rise and pass through the voice of one speaker, and pass with all daily minutiae intact. Animal, vegetable,mineral or fish, it's all real, it's Life - reader, go thou and find you own backyard!" - Kirkus Reviews

Edges: Backcountry lives in America today on the borderlands between the old ways and the new

Knopf: distributed by Random House

Politicians come and go, but the Constitution stands as the supreme law of the land. Setting forth the workings of our democracy, it is the bedrock document from which we derive our policies on topics as diverse and galvanizing as immigration, gun ownership, voting rights, taxation, policing, civil liberties, and war. In this indispensable edition, acclaimed historian and Constitutional expert Ray Raphael guides us through the origins, impact, and current relevance of the original text and all twenty-seven amendments. Here is the key historical context for issues in the news today—from the Electoral College to Washington gridlock, from peaceful protests to executive power. Thoughtful and nuanced, lively and highly readable, this annotated Constitution is for all of us to read and refer to—the ultimate political fact-checking source for every American.

The U.S. Constitution: Explained--Clause by Clause--for Every American Today

In other times and places the passage from boyhood to manhood was dramatized and facilitated by initiation rites. In ritualized fashion, the complex problems of personal development were translated into clear and concrete tasks. But in the dazzling variety of modern America there is no universal test or ceremony that bestows manhood: each male must find a group with its special initiations, or devise an initiation of his own. He may climb mountains, play football, join the army, pledge fraternities, impress the girls, and get drunk with the guys. But where do these free-style initiations lead in the end?
To find out, Ray Raphael conducted in-depth interviews with one hundred American males ranging from a Mr. America body-building to a practitioner of witchcraft, from a “right stuff” fighter pilot to a draft dodger, from a self-proclaimed Don Juan to a “superdad.” The Men from the Boys is the first and only book-length study of contemporary simulations of classical male initiations.
The results of this study are unsettling. Initiations today function more as tests to determine who can make the grade than as educational tools that encourage the development of all young men. In the absence of inclusive rituals, Raphael’s subjects struggle to overcome doubts as they negotiate their own paths to maturity. Their personal tales, told with dramatic and emotional intensity, speak to all American males who find themselves torn between a unisex modernity and more archaic notions of masculinity.

The Men from the Boys : Rites of Passage in Male America

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

University Of Nebraska Press

Octavo, 1986, PP.233, Folks In The Backcountry As An Endangered Species

Edges: Human Ecology of the Backcountry

In other times and places the passage from boyhood to manhood was dramatized and facilitated by initiation rites. In ritualized fashion, the complex problems of personal development were translated into clear and concrete tasks. But in the dazzling variety of modern America there is no universal test or ceremony that bestows manhood: each male must find a group with its special initiations, or devise an initiation of his own. He may climb mountains, play football, join the army, pledge fraternities, impress the girls, and get drunk with the guys. But where do these free-style initiations lead in the end? To find out, Ray Raphael conducted in-depth interviews with one hundred American males ranging from a Mr. America body-building to a practitioner of witchcraft, from a âright stuffâ fighter pilot to a draft dodger, from a self-proclaimed Don Juan to a âsuperdad.â The Men from the Boys is the first and only book-length study of contemporary simulations of classical male initiations. The results of this study are unsettling. Initiations today function more as tests to determine who can make the grade than as educational tools that encourage the development of all young men. In the absence of inclusive rituals, Raphaelâs subjects struggle to overcome doubts as they negotiate their own paths to maturity. Their personal tales, told with dramatic and emotional intensity, speak to all American males who find themselves torn between a unisex modernity and more archaic notions of masculinity.

The Men from the Boys: Rites of Passage in Male America

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Raphael, Ray. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Raphael, Ray

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Raphael, Ray. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A People's History of the American Revolution: How Common People Shaped the Fight for Independence

Revolutionary Founders: Rebels, Radicals, and Reformers in the Making of the Nation

Mr. President: How and Why the Founders Created a Chief Executive

Mr. President: How and Why the Founders Created a Chief Executive

An everyday history of somewhere, being the true story of Indians,: Deer, homesteaders, potatoes, loggers, trees, fishermen, salmon, & other living things in the backwoods of northern California,

Edges: Backcountry lives in America today on the borderlands between the old ways and the new

The U.S. Constitution: Explained--Clause by Clause--for Every American Today

The Men from the Boys : Rites of Passage in Male America

Edges: Human Ecology of the Backcountry

The Men from the Boys: Rites of Passage in Male America