Bootmaker to the Nation, Volume I

The Story of the American Revolution, Volume I, Rebellion

BOOTMAKER TO THE NATION, an ebook trilogy, dramatizes the Revolutionary War so vibrantly that people who “hate history” will find themselves totally immersed in the saga of America’s creation. Fifty years after the Declaration of Independence, two white-haired patriots take turns telling their epic story, Benjamin from the battlefields, Genevieve from Washington’s headquarters.

Volume I takes the reader on a turbulent ride through the three rebellious years leading up to the Declaration of Independence. Benjamin York, an apprentice shoemaker in London, is impressed into the British Navy in 1774 and forced to sail to Boston. He becomes a “topman”, working high in the rigging.

Genevieve Byrnes, a farm girl from Massachusetts, grows up hearing about the turmoil in nearby Boston. She becomes, like her father, an expert rider, galloping along the back roads of her explosive colony.

In Boston, Benjamin is forced to become a redcoat. He marches to Lexington and Concord, fighting the opening skirmishes on the British side. Captured by the Americans, he meets Genevieve and her brother Henry, a Minuteman. Out of rage for what the British have done to him, Benjamin joins the American Army.

Follow Benjamin and Genevieve as their lives intertwine during the tumultuous opening of the eight-year war.

Why I wrote this book:

After the trauma of September 11, 2001, followed by two wars, and then the economic devastation in 2008, Americans are looking with a loving and yet probing eye at their country. Who are we, as a nation, and as a good neighbor in the world? What is our future path?

I hope that by returning to the birth of our nation–by reliving the rich and powerful years from 1763 to 1783–we can better understand the events, and the values, of our American foundation. By clearing away the clutter and the neglect, by returning to the granite bedrock of our Revolution, we can find a more solid footing . . . and thus we can build a national edifice that is less commercial, but instead more generous in spirit.

I have written this epic novel as a gift to America.

BOOTMAKER TO THE NATION tells the story of a colonial people who spent 12 years, from 1763 to 1775, discussing their economic, political, and legal differences with the Mother Country, before the first musket was fired. The founders of our country were educated; it is time for Americans today to educate themselves with equal fervency.

As a teacher of literature with a broad range of students, I write with a clear and vibrant style. Thus, every historical step in BOOTMAKER TO THE NATION is distinct and vivid. Nineteen maps follow the story closely.

For over five years, I read a multitude of books about the American Revolution, including documents in the Library of Congress. I visited every historical site from Lexington at dawn on April 19, to Fraunce’s Tavern in New York City, to Valley Forge during a howling blizzard, to redoubt number ten in Yorktown. I sailed for ten days on a square-rigger, as crew up in the highest rigging, so that I could describe Benjamin’s voyage from London to Boston in 1774.

BOOTMAKER TO THE NATION contains actual quotes from General Washington and his officers, from Franklin, from Jefferson, from John and Samuel Adams, as historical figures and fictional characters appear together throughout the novel. Thus rich history is interwoven into a galloping story.

John Slade

***The original 736-page paperback was published in 2002. This ebook trilogy, published in 2012, honors the tenth anniversary of BOOTMAKER TO THE NATION.***