cover image Red Dawn at Lexington: ""If They Mean to Have a War, Let It Begin Here!""

Red Dawn at Lexington: ""If They Mean to Have a War, Let It Begin Here!""

Louis Birnbaum. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), $18.95 (402pp) ISBN 978-0-395-38814-3

The author, who died three years ago, was an award-winning California teacher, and his dedication to his craft certainly shows in this first-rate popular history of the opening salvos of the American Revolution. Using eyewitness accounts extensively, Birnbaum brings to life events in and around the Boston of 17731776: the arrival of British reinforcements; the rising tensions among colonists; and the ensuing battles at Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill, all related in vivid details that allow us to see many different individuals and the issues at stake within the framework of that era. This was surely labor-of-love writing for Birnbaum, and even history buffs knowledgeable about the period will find the book a pleasure to read. Photos. (April 19)