Taxes, the Tea Party, and Those Revolting Rebels

August 20, 2012
This re-issue of cartoonist and social chronicler Mack's thoroughly researched 1994 history of the American Revolution offers a spectacular, unvarnished account that runs counter to the mythology-as-history often taught in American schools. Mack's re-telling avoids speechifying and presents realistic motivations for the rebels. It also manages to depict the towering figures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and other founding fathers as mere men, some of whom were not necessarily as commanding or even competent as legend would have it. For those raised on the hyperbolic children's book versions of the people and events surrounding our nation's independence, this is a strongly recommended work whose "cartoony" art style works well with a narrative that openly addresses the roles played by women, slaves, and Native Americans in the twenty-eight year struggle and its aftermath.

Starred review from September 15, 2012

Meet the original Tea Party and "Occupiers" of our nation's founding: not idealistic heroes united against the British but an uneasy and untidy hodgepodge of self-righteous intellectuals and aristocrats, money-hungry merchants and entrepreneurs, disgruntled soldiers, and just plain hungry working people. The British weren't very good at either fighting or diplomacy much of the time, and the American troops were often worse. Mack reminds today's voters that success in the 1770s came not through harmony--nobody agreed about anything--but through persistence, passion, creative thinking, and compromise. As proof, the resulting Constitution has lasted more than 200 years and been able to modernize, addressing gender and racial equality, for example. Mack's endearingly irreverent and well-researched black-and-white account has been updated from his 1994 Real Life American Revolution and especially shines in coverage of issues relating to African Americans, Native Americans, and women. VERDICT While excellent for classroom-centered tweens and teens (who reportedly loved the 1994 version), these revolting rebels should star in all adult collections, too, in displays, and as readers' advisory fodder through November.--M.C.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.