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Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Barone
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 244113
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 1400097932
Dewey Decimal Number: 941.067
EAN: 9781400097937
ASIN: 1400097932
Publication Date: June 24, 2008
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Product Description
In this exciting work of popular history, Michael Barone brings the story of the Glorious Revolution–an unlikely late-seventeenth-century British uprising–to American readers and reveals that, without it, the American Revolution may never have happened. With a strong narrative drive and unforgettable portraits of kings, queens, and soldiers, Barone takes an episode that has fallen into unjustified obscurity and restores it to the prominence it deserves.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 30 more reviews...
 Did American founders fully agree with the English history? October 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Michael Barone's 'Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers' is an excellent account of the 17th century English political history. Much of it is known and taught to the British students and were taught in erstwhile British overseas colonies. Consequently, English history had a mesmerizing appeal everywhere. Little wonder that this would be more so for the American founding fathers most of whom had close connection with their motherland and who had completed their education in England.
Dr. Barone's thesis that the bloodless Glorious Revolution was the pioneer in triggering off the casualty-ridden and the sanguinary American Revolution is as partially correct as the claim that the bloody French Revolution drew its inspiration from the American Revolution. While it is a widely held consensus that the Amerian Revolution owed a lot to that English revolution, the paradox is that the main centerpiece of that revolution- the religious issues- were totally left out in the American case. This goes to show that the US founders did not altogether agree with England in theri new political thoughts. While England needed monarchy for nearly another couple of centuries, this was anathema to the American founders. Tom Paine's various accounts bear testimony to this fact. The founding fathers, however, followed the political philosophy of John Locke who had great admiration for that 1688 English Revolution.
Gautam Maitra
Author of 'Tracing the Eagle's Orbit: Illuminating Insights into Major US Foreign Policies since Independence.'
Good narrative, but doesn't support its title October 14, 2008
It's a common misconception that the last time the British Isles were successfully invaded was in 1066 when William the Conqueror defeated Harold at Hastings. But many forget that William of Orange, invaded and occupied England, with the complicity of many nobles, claiming the throne for himself in 1688; in fact, Dutch soldiers controlled London's streets for ten years. For someone not well-versed in this episode and period of history, like me, I found this to be a great overview.
The book's strength is its analysis of the geopolitical context that surrounded William's decision to invade and James II's action and inaction. Besides the well known religious issue, a Catholic king vs. a protestant nobility and population, other pressures included William being fourth in line to the throne, with his wife being the second, and his desire to get England onto his side against France. At the same time France's military actions in central Europe and even Ottoman actions in Eastern Europe created the conditions that allowed William to act when he did.
The book's weakness is in its analysis of what it purports to do; argue that the "revolution" inspired America's founding fathers. After nine chapters of traditional narrative history Barone leaves this argument to the very end and offers little support. First his argument is based on an assumption that Catholicism was bad for England and Protestantism was good. This assumption is critical because many of his arguments in favor of the "revolution" rely on what happened in England after the invasion vs. what MIGHT have occurred had James remained king. The problem with comparing the facts of reality to the supposition of what never occurred, but might have, is that it can never be proven or tested. His argument merely amounts to the need to believe that bad things would have happened.
At the same time, despite claiming that American's founding fathers were inspired by this revolution, he offers very little evidence to support that claim.
All in all I really enjoyed the book and recommend it for those who want to know about the Glorious Revolution; but don't use it to argue that our founding fathers took inspiration from it.
Still an interesting book September 2, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Although the author may have somewhat overstated his case that the Glorious Revolution was a precursor to the American, it is nonetheless a well-written book about a fascinating period of British history.
 Solid intro for those who don't know the period July 7, 2008
Barone meant this as an intor for those who know little about the Glorious Revolution. He does a solic, unspectacular job. A bit slow in places, with some repitition, but always clear.
A bit fact-heavy, but fascinating in its thesis June 6, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Barone takes on a subject well-known to most Brits, but nearly unknown to Americans -- the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688-89, where the autocratic "divine right" James II was ousted by British lords and a Dutch invasion by William of Orange (whose wife, Mary, was next in line for the throne). Barone's thesis is that the nature of this upheaval, of William, and of the aftermath, played a profound role not only in British history, but in the rebellion of the American colonies some ninety years later.
Writing: This is Old School history -- lots of dates, lots of names, lots of recaps, lots of facts and figures -- and probably not as much personality explanations as the casual history buff would like. I know a lot more about the whole thing than I did before I listened to this audiobook -- but while I know what people did, I have less understanding of why they did it.
Part of that may be the clumsiness (in a facts-and-figures setting) of the audiobook format. Part of it is the cast of hundreds spanning across fifty-odd years (at least) of British/Dutch/French history. But part of it is just that the book is often more fact-driven than interpretation-driven.
Info: Barone takes us from the reign of Charles II after the fall of the Cromwellian revolutionary republic, through his successor James II -- an autocrat who was determined to uphold and promote Catholicism in England, Scotland and Ireland -- through the reign of his usuper, William of Orange. How William moved from English opponent, to ally, to invader and king, how the various factions in England let it happen, how James' own actions sorely backfired on him, and the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, is all spelled out quite cleanly.
Religion was huge. Part of it was just factional labeling, making an Us vs Them setup. But the impact of the various religions factions -- Catholics, Anglicans, and Dissenters (mostly Presbyterian, but the term applying to anyone who was an English Protestant but not a member of the the Church of England) -- was huge. Catholics were hated and feared by large swaths of the population, for reasons both concrete (looking at Tudor-Stuart history, not to mention the autocratically Catholic -- if sometimes anti-Papal -- nature of England's enemy, France) and spurious (endless rumors of plots by various Catholic factions). A huge part of what goes on during Charles II's reign is the question of whether the converted Catholic James II can be allowed to be made king -- and, once he acquires the throne, his efforts to either impose Catholic rule, or impose tolerance, by dispensing with various Parliamentary acts restricting civil and military posts to Anglicans and packing same with Catholics. William, coming in as neither an Anglican or a Catholic, is still welcomed by a Church of England establishment that fears and resents James.
The essential thesis of the book -- though only the last chapter really spells it out -- is that the Glorious Revolution (a largely bloodless coup, though accompanied by Dutch troops) played a profound role in the later American revolution. Barone posits that the ouster of James II spelled a radical divergence from the Continent (where autocratic kings were largely marginalizing or doing away with representative councils) and from the Stuart kings (who either ruled for lengthy periods of time without Parliament in session, or else packed/corrupted elections to get only Tory crown loyalists elected), and ushered in a government that followed a civil contract with the king, rather than a divine mandate. Under William -- and thereafter -- the king's powers were circumscribed by the Parliament (elected Commons and peer Lords), and the idea of both representative government and guaranteed liberties that were established for England became a huge grievance for the American colonists in the mid-late 18th Century.
Indeed, binding the two above points together, the eventual Constitutional prinicples of the new United States preventing an established church by state or federal government, as well as forbidding any religious test for offfice, suddenly becomes far more clear in its intent and motivation.
Re-Readability: The information, once passed on, makes delving through lengthy lists of names, dates, amounts, and other columnar facts a lot less appealing. I don't see listening to this again (though I don't regret listening to it once).
Audio: The audio quality of this Tantor unabridged edition is excellent. Stephen Hoye narrates with authority and clarity, though even he struggles with some of the facts-and-figures-rich areas of the book.
Overall: A very informative description of an even some in the US have heard of, but few know much about. Barone establishes and appears to prove his thesis, and it's a very illuminating examination of a precursor to much of what we consider American values today.
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