This
review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained
therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to
copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions.
Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted
Permission
Title:
A Son of Thunder
Series: -----
Author:
Henry Mayer
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre:
Biography
Pages: 504
Words:
178K
Publish: 1986
This
was a biography of Patrick Henry and came across much more as someone
telling a story than a hard facts and dates kind of biography that I
kind of expect when I think of that genre. I like that story telling
aspect quite a bit. Made the reading sail along smoothly instead of
clumping along through boggy swamps. There is very little about his
growing up days and most of it centers around his rise to fame
through the American Revolution and then his subsequent hand in
crafting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
I enjoyed reading this, sparse as it was. Henry was apparently a private man and took that to great lengths. Good for him I say. Also, the reason he was so adamant about the Bill of Rights, everything he feared about a centralized government, has come to pass. He would look on us today as the most abject of slaves, and he was a slave owner himself, so he would know. It’s not that he was prescient, he simply knew, as did most men of his time, how Power worked and how it affected mankind.
From the few interactions with George Washington that he had, I think I’d like to investigate Washington at some time and read a couple of biographies about him. But that’ll have to wait as I’ve got about 15 other non-fiction books in the queue.
★★★✬☆
From the Publisher:
Patrick Henry was a charismatic orator whose devotion to the pursuit of liberty fueled the fire of the American Revolution and laid the groundwork for the United States. As a lawyer and a member of the Virginia House of Burgess, Henry championed the inalienable rights with which all men are born. His philosophy inspired the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and, most significantly, the Bill of Rights. Famous for the line “Give me liberty or give me death!” Patrick Henry was a man who stirred souls and whose dedication to individual liberty became the voice for thousands. In A Son of Thunder, Henry Mayer offers “a biography as [Patrick] Henry himself would have wanted it written
