Book Thread: July 5th, 2026 (MP4)

Good morning, ‘rons and ‘ronettes. It’s time once again for the monthly MP4-hosted Sunday Book Thread. Dress for men, as always, is country club casual. Women are encouraged to wear their best Lilly Pulitzer:
https://tinyurl.com/8n8dd49y

So ask the barman for a cocktail, covfefe or tea and let’s get started!

‘we hold these truths to be self-evident’

By the time this is posted, I expect Independence Day will be behind us. What will happen that day? Nationwide hate-Trump riots? More “No Kings” marches? Democrat politicians of all skin hues and aspirations lecturing Americans about the inherent, inborn, unforgivable evil that is the United States? I don’t know. I do know that the 250th anniversary will be (or was) a sadder, more divisive and ultimately poorer celebration than that of 1976.

During the Bicentennial, I had the pleasure of visiting Filthadelphia, where I saw the meeting room of the Continental Congress (much smaller than that version seen in 1776) and came away with a copy of Edmund Morgan’s The Meaning of Independence, a collection of three lectures he gave in 1975 regarding Adams, Washington and Jefferson. It was the first book I had ever bought regarding the Revolution and to this day I still pick up the occasional volume that catches my eye. Allow me to mention a few:

Spies of the Revolution by Katherine and John Bakeless. My copy is from Scholastic Book Services and is a YA adaptation of their 1959 Turncoats, Traitors and Heroes. It’s a fad these days to write about Washington’s network of spies, but the Bakelesses covered that and more decades ago.

A.G. Langguth’s Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution is, IMO, probably the best one-volume history of the Revolution and one written to appeal to all reading levels, charting the course of the conflict from the Stamp Act all the way to Yorktown and beyond.

For a close look at the Declaration itself, Pauline Maier’s American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence is a must-have. She examines not only the writing of the Declaration, but its antecedents, its mirror declarations in various colonies and how, in the 19th century, the document itself was ‘sanctified.’ An appendix reprints Jefferson’s original draft, enabling you to see how and where he was improved or watered down.

Thomas Fleming’s Liberty: The American Revolution was a companion volume to the 1997 PBS series. It’s a lavishly-illustrated book which begins in the aftermath of the French and Indian War, proceeding through the various Parliamentary attempts to squeeze money from the colonies and on into war, victory and the framing of the Constitution.

And, of course, if you happen to prowl used bookshops, you might come across any one of the various American Heritage books about the Revolution, colonial settlement or American history. An excellent example is their two-volume 200 Years: A Bicentennial Illustrated History of the United States.

And I can’t finish without mentioning Westholme Publishing, who specialize in the 18th century and have a companion website, Journal of the American Revolution. I’m looking forward to the publication of City Tavern: The Founding Table by Becky Libourel Diamond.

What about you? What books captured your imagination or influenced your thinking about independence? Will our 300th anniversary be as celebratory as 1976, or are we a rusty clock, winding down to a sad, empty silence?

[A Personal Request:
My new Theda Bara novel, Ten Thousand Midnights, is at reading draft stage and I'm looking for a few people to share thoughts. If you've read my first two, you know the scene - silent star Theda Bara is an amateur detective along with her makeup artist Toby Swanson. The new book has her asked by the LA police to help solve the 1922 murder of Paramount director William Desmond Taylor.

If you're interested, email me at christopherdigrazia@gmail.com and I'll send you a word file and what I'm looking for.]

posted by Open Blogger at 08:53 AM

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