{"id":19403,"date":"2016-07-04T08:25:05","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T15:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ordinary-fan.flywheelsites.com\/?p=19403"},"modified":"2023-01-25T17:46:29","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T01:46:29","slug":"the-revolutionary-war-by-mort-kunstler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeemedreader.com\/the-revolutionary-war-by-mort-kunstler\/","title":{"rendered":"The Revolutionary War by Mort Kunstler"},"content":{"rendered":"

Key events of the American Revolution are celebrated by one of our nation\u2019s preeminent historical painters.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"revolutionary<\/p>\n

The Revolutionary War<\/em> 1775-1783<\/em> (See American History Series) by Mort Kunstler, text by Alan Axelrod.\u00a0 Abbeville Press, 2016, 45 pages including appendix<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Reading Level<\/strong>: Middle Grades, ages 8-10<\/p>\n

Recommended for<\/strong>: ages 5-12<\/p>\n

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Mort Kunstler is perhaps best known for his Civil War paintings, which fill several volumes.\u00a0 For the See America series he turns his considerable artistic talent to picturing great events in American History for children (a companion volume about the Civil War was also published this year).\u00a0 The text reads more like expanded captions for the pictures than a unified narrative of the period, beginning with the Boston Massacre and ending with Washington\u2019s Homecoming.\u00a0 Forty pages can only hit the highlights; important events like Arnold\u2019s treason, Franklin\u2019s diplomacy, and the southern campaigns are omitted, but a two-page summary at the beginning and a timeline at the end fill some of the gaps.<\/p>\n

The text sometimes reads like it\u2019s addressed to five-year-olds, e.g., In this painting on the left, the night appears very cold, but the house looks so warm!<\/em>\u00a0 However, the friendly, conversational tone will probably draw more young readers or listeners than it repels.\u00a0 The refreshing lack of PC flags is also a plus\u2014we don\u2019t have to be reminded, for instance, that George Washington owned slaves.\u00a0 In fact, the narrative tends to overstatement at times: Friedrich von Steuben\u2019s Valley Forge drills didn\u2019t quite shape the Continental Army into a match for \u201cthe best armies of Europe,\u201d and British historians would be shocked to learn that \u201cBecause Captain [John Paul] Jones never gave up, Britain no longer ruled the world\u2019s oceans!\u201d\u00a0 So would Napoleon, for that matter.\u00a0 But the detailed, atmospheric paintings will provide hours of browsing as young readers relive one of history\u2019s great stories.<\/p>\n

Cautions:<\/strong> None<\/p>\n

Overall rating<\/strong>: 4.25 (out of 5)<\/p>\n