The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America

Paul Revere’s famous 1775 late-night journey to warn American colonists about approaching British forces was far from his first such ride, emphasizes bestselling biographer Kennedy (True) in this amusing and affectionate recounting of Revere’s activist years before the Revolution. Kennedy presents Revere as essentially a laborer of the Revolution, writing that “Revere was not born into money. He received no high-shelf education. He spent less time pondering. He worked.” Revere came into contact with the Revolution’s early architects—John and Samuel Adams and John Hancock—through Boston high society, first as a prominent member of the Masons (prominent because he simply showed up to more meetings than anyone else, Kennedy suggests), and later in his capacity as a silversmith (but a bad one, leaving him ever in arrears). The passionate, cash-strapped, and notably athletic Revere was thus well positioned to help the Revolution with such arduous physical tasks as couriering messages, including a dozen or so rides predating the most famous one. Kennedy, whose previous biographies have all been of athletes, charmingly depicts Revere as somewhat of a jock among nerds (his riding prowess is much dissected), but he pads the narrative with unnecessarily detailed descriptions of routes and out-of-left-field pivots to pop science writers like Malcolm Gladwell. Still, it makes for a fresh and up-close look at Revolutionary Boston. (Mar.)