| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 93.1

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 170 words from this article are provided below; about 362 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 93.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Revolutionary Generation: Harvard Men and Consequences of Independence. By Conrad Edick Wright. (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2005. xii, 298 pp. $34.95, ISBN 1-55849-484-7.)

In this piercing study of the 204 members of the Harvard College classes of 1771–1774, Conrad Edick Wright reminds us how much a college degree served as a badge of rank and privilege rather than intellectual achievement before the Revolution. Only 2,500 to 3,000 men out of a population of 2.2 million colonists had a degree, or about one-tenth of 1 percent. Investment in rank was reflected in the decisions of a significant minority, one in seven, to cling to the imperial fount of authority in London. Echoes of privilege also reverberated in their appointment as officers on both sides in their teens. Nineteen-year-old Jonathan Trumbull Jr. distinguished himself in the Continental Army but quit in a pique over promotion to make his way to London to train as an artist while the war raged on. These young men had high expectations.

. . .

There are about 362 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.