| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 88.4

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 88.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Sweet Land of Liberty: The Ordeal of the American Revolution in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. By Francis S. Fox. (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000. xx, 212 pp. $29.95, ISBN 0-271-02062-8.)

At some point in the researching and writing of Sweet Land of Liberty, Francis S. Fox came to the conclusion that "conventional narrative" could not encompass the meaning of the Revolution in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. "Finally," he writes, "I hit upon the notion of letting men and women caught up in the Revolution speak for themselves." Sweet Land of Liberty brings together biographical sketches of thirteen men and five women whose diverse experiences have been reconstructed on the basis of impressive archival research. True to his word, Fox resists the temptation to impose a "conventional narrative" on the people of Northampton. Indeed, one can search this book in vain for an explicit statement of theme, argument, or purpose. But even if the characters in this book speak for themselves, it is the author who has assembled the cast and decided who has a voice and who has not. . . .

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