The Revolutionary Paul Revere

by: Joel J. Miller

Published by: Thomas Nelson Publishing

Reviewed by Sara Porter

Historic figures are meant to be explored more often. With certain figures such as Presidents, actors, and royalty, we learn enough about them, their childhoods, their marriages, and more of their lives than some would care to know. Then there are the other figures, ordinary people who commit a certain act and are never heard from again. Paul Revere is one of the latter.

Readers know that he rode one night in 1775 to let the people in Massachusetts know that the British were coming. However, Miller’s interesting, fact-based, and at time dry book portrays Revere as the family man, spy, Mason, silversmith, and incidentally the midnight rider. The book describes Revere’s family particularly his father, Apollos, whose family were among the many Huguenots fleeing prosecution in France. We also learn about Revere’s two marriages and 16 children that he sired between his wives. In his home life, the reader learns of a figure that wasn’t always financially secure, but was a stern, but loving paterfamilias.

We also learn of Revere’s ties to the freemasons which he joined in 1761. We also discover the inner politics when Revere and some of his fellow American revolutionaries left their former Masonic order to start another when the heads of the order disagreed with the decision to break away from England. We also learn of Revere’s career as an engraver and silver smith, particularly his engraving of the Boston Massacre which incited his fellow colonists to react violently against the British, despite the fabrications in the picture. Miller’s words give the reader a complete picture of a man who we only knew for a brief moment in time.

If the book has a flaw, it’s that it’s too dry. Miller barely gives us any dialogue or description apart from Revere’s occasional writings. Miller’s writing often consists of “In 1775, he did this and then they did that and so forth). While it gives us a factual account of the story, it reads like a history text book gone on too long. He doesn’t present us a person worth learning about his real motives or relationships, just a figure with a past. Once the idle curiosity about the rest of Revere’s life is finished, the book gets tedious after awhile.