Revolution Redux
I would like to compliment American History on the excellent lead article "Rethinking the Revolution" by John Ferling (October 2007). The heroism of the American Revolution has been largely forgotten, and the names that "every schoolboy knows" are those of writers and politicians, not the men who fought, bled and died. It has been wigged to death in film or, in the case of the South, mutilated by those wielding a hasty pen dipped in the ink of vague notions. How sad, and thank you, Mr. Ferling, for saying so.
Beverly Enwall
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
When I read "Rethinking the Revolution," I was greatly disappointed that while consideration was given to its carnage, the fact that America had shifted from a largely agrarian society (especially in the North) to an industrialized nation prior to the Civil War was hardly touched on. One can hardly make comparisons of the two wars except for the death tolls because America was at a completely different phase of development with more infrastructure, mechanization and the ability to communicate better from front to front.
I'd like to also comment on "venerated" historian Bruce Catton's assertion that the Civil War "was the most significant single experience in our national existence." While Mr. Catton is certainly well known and is entitled to his opinion, it is exactly this type of rhetoric that distorts truth and relies on embellishment to tell a story rather than factual evidence. One could easily argue the dropping of the bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima was equally as important.
Just the facts, please.
War is hell regardless of what they are fought for and by whom they are fought. War is also always limited to the present technology and the resourcefulness and muster of a people to fight one. History is, well…history. Unfortunately it is not always told with fidelity to the truth as Mr. Ferling alludes, but with agenda and predisposition.
Pat Spickard
Alliance, Ohio
Jazz Age on the Road
I suppose baby boomers will always continue to believe that their generation was responsible for most of the good and/or bad that followed it.
William McKeen's "50 Years On the Road" (December 2007) is typical. He states that America became mobile in the 1950s. It would be more correct to say the 1920s. The Jazz Age was responsible for more social and moral changes than the 1950s and 1960s. Elders have told me about those days of youngsters and their cars with easily removable seats, which, when placed on a remote grassy spot, made a smooth place for romancing. Young ladies began to smoke and drink in public, wore short dresses that would have shocked their grandparents and took joy rides with more abandon than in the horse-and-buggy days.
The great big band swing era was nurtured by radio in the 1930s and 1940s. The Benny Goodman band's success during the Depression was a result of its being heard nationwide. Listeners flocked to hear this music in person—they had their own Woodstock, were better dressed and did very little, if any, pot smoking.
I suppose each generation embraces its own current culture—but writers of history should look beyond what they have experienced. We know what we saw and did, but history takes much more into account. The picture changes.
Ernest Birchenough
King City, Oregon
King County, Where?
The Overlooked by History article on William Rufus King, the vice president who never served (December 2007), states that King was the original namesake of Oregon's King County. Today King County is in the state of Washington, but when the county was created in 1852, the area was within the Oregon Territory. The territorial government named King County and, at the same time, named the adjacent area Pierce County for President Franklin Piece, under whom King never served. Both counties were included in Washington Territory, which Congress created in 1853. It was said that naming them for Pierce and King was in hope of gaining early statehood status for Washington, but that did not occur until 1889.
Mike Burton
Portland, Oregon
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