Absinthe & Cookies (a bit bitter, a bit sweet)

Sorry, the show is made as though no viewer has read ANY history at all.
It should be no suprise to an HS grad level that most before the action started only wished redress of perceived mistreatment(much less than other colonies), including many of the signers of the Decleration.
Even during the conflict, it was about 1/3 for independence, 1/3 against, 1/3 no opinion (just leave me alone).
The show (to me) seems geard to those with a grade school understanding of the subject. Not what one usually finds on PBS at that hour.
Ed

Well gee, Ed excuse me for finding the alternate perspective interesting. I have actually read history, and spent half my school life in Canada where a slightly different perspective on the Revolution is taught. Not to mention my English grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc... And most TV history shows are made for the average viewer, not history majors.

(I love being told I'm stupid on my own blog) (I really do)

I was wondering how this would go down in the USA as it takes a few well aimed kicks at a number of American sacred cows. It was shown in the UK last summer and I got the book, Rebels and Redcoats at Christmas. The book expands on the TV programmes and, if it's available in the USA, is highly recommended. Also recommended is the BBC history website covering the war of independance.

After watching the programme and reading the book, I wanted to find out more about the whole period and the later war of 1812. Unsurprisingly, most of the information on the web is American, and a lot appears to be put up by students or schools. Not surprisingly, most of the info feeds off the myths to the point that everything is portrayed in very black and white terms. As a Brit, you begin to wonder if they show The Patriot as part of the American history lessons.

(The Patriot was the trigger for making the TV series & writing the book, as Richard Holmes, the miltary historian was on a transatlantic flight with the Patriot as the in flight movie).

What I do not understand is why the USA, especially those who are on the right, cannot face up to the realities of your past. There seems to be a need to air-brush out the awkward or messy bits. Is it a need to feel a moral superiority and that the USA is above the hacking and slashing/rape & pillage period that most countries go through as they take on a national identity?

In the balance of things the USA is, and always has been, a force for good in the world. The ideals laid out in the declaration of independance (once you have included blacks, women and native Americans) is something to be proud of. Don't be ashamed of the past.

cheers

Steven
t'other side of the pond