Today is the 246th anniversary of, “The Shot Heard Round the World” - otherwise known as the beginning of the American Revolution at the battles of Lexington & Concord on April 19th, 1775. Over sixty years later the event would be immortalized in verse by American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson with a poem entitled Concord Hymn. It goes a little something like this …
Read MoreThere were many foreign heroes who made American independence possible. Among them was Tadeusz Kościuszko, a Polish military engineer who arrived in the Thirteen Colonies unable to speak English but ready to help the American cause. In fact, Kościuszko carried his love for freedom and republicanism wherever he went in his life, becoming not just a national hero here in the United States but in his native Poland as well.
Read MoreGreene's book is a good one, but you need to bring an appetite for serious military history with you. Otherwise, you might as well watch The Patriot and call it a day.
Read MoreHere's something to consider as you make leftover turkey sandwiches for lunch today...
Benjamin Franklin's preference for using the Turkey over the Bald Eagle on our Great Seal is a well known piece of American folklore - but is there any truth to the tale? Kinda sorta.
Read MoreIf you're not familiar with author Nathaniel Philbrick, that'll soon change. Ron Howard is making Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea into a feature film, his book Mayflower is being adapted into a television series by FX, and Ben Affleck’s production company has optioned Bunker Hill, his most recent book. Not half bad.
Read MoreThe genius of Common Sense was that it gave voice to the collective anger and frustration felt by countless American patriots and it succeeded in spinning an already angry populace even further into the realm of tear-ass rebelliousness. In order to get into the revolutionary spirit, I read it for the first time while on my recent trip to Yorktown, Virginia.
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