Monthly Archives: March 2015
I am happy to announce an upcoming event:
Sam Adams, Fox News, and Freedom of the Press
April 4, 2015
11:30am-1pm
Forbes Library, Community Room
20 West St, Northampton, MA
I’ll be reading from The Sword and Scabbard (Ch. 11) and leading a discussion on common views of Revolutionary activities during this period. Those who have read the book can ask questions and comment on events described by Nicholas, while others can begin to examine the narrative that is prevalent throughout the U.S. and worldwide.
I’m looking forward to it!
A mere 245 years ago, on March 5, 1770, two groups faced off in the square in front of the Custom House in Boston. When the confrontation ended, America had been pushed down a revolutionary path that allowed little room for reversing direction. The deaths of five unarmed men drew lines that neither the colonists nor the British government could or would cross.
The dramatization that is attached here (click on the Massacre Anniversary link at the end) describes the Massacre from a third-person perspective, unlike the description by Nicholas Gray in The Sword and Scabbard. His circumstances limited what he saw and experienced. Like in the book, the thoughts and words of the characters must be invented, but all of the events are documented in a variety of sources. The Massacre was as much the beginning of the Revolution as the shots fired six years later. I hope you enjoy the description and relish the importance of a few barely remembered men, British and American, in the world’s history.
