Primary Source Accounts of the Revolutionary War

VOYA - Angela Carstensen

Books in the MyReportLinks.com imprint offer the reader a background on the subject and also send them to recommended Web sites for further research. Each volume begins with a page explaining the MyReportLinks.com Web site, where links to the sites referenced in the text are available, and provides a password to the site. This page is followed by an explanation of primary sources. Primary Source Accounts of the Revolutionary War follows the same pattern. It begins with a chapter on the events surrounding "The Shot Heard Round the World," followed by a brief history of the war. In a chapter on soldiers, the author does a good job of explaining the different types involved, including Native Americans, African Americans, Hessians, and Loyalists. Other chapters cover the women of the war, the songs and poetry of the time, and how news of the battles was depicted and spread. Again each chapter includes quotes by those involved, illustrations and recommended Web sites. Written at a middle school level, the books in this series obviously are not for students without Internet access. Although some might find it disheartening to see books leading students to the Internet-they will probably go there anyway, but will the students come back to the books or just keep surfing? - the recommended Web sites in these volumes are exceptional collections of primary sources and are not sites that students would find immediately using Google. Other volumes in the series discuss the War of 1812, the Mexican American War, the Spanish American War, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.