Frontier Rebels is a book focusing on the Black Boys, Native Americans, and colonists and their effects on the fight for American Independence in the West from 1765 to 1776. The main idea that Patrick Spero is trying to communicate to readers is “... the story of the Black Boys doesn’t fit easily into this idea of the American Revolution as a struggle for liberty. Beneath the Black Boys, desire for liberty and freedom from the British is an unpleasant, perhaps unpopular, truth that may have caused past historians to look the other way: behind the Black Boys movement was a deep fear of the Native Americans that turned into hatred through war. Its vehemence clouds the heroic narratives of colonial rebels fighting to overthrow a tyrannical imperial …show more content…
Their story, driven more by fear and anger than by righteousness, doesn’t work well as a morality tale or a founding legend. ” (26) Throughout his book on the Black Boys, Spero makes extensive use of both primary sources and secondary works. Among the primary sources that Spero uses extensively are from the American Philosophical Society and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, which are credible sources with a rich history in what Spero is talking about in his book. Secondary works that Spero uses extensively include books from other authors, such as Niel Swanson’s book, The First Rebel: Being a Lost Chapter of Our History and a True Narrative of America’s Uprising Against English Military Authority. Spero’s central argument, as presented in Frontier Rebels, is that the hatred of Native Americans and the want to take over their land in the Western Frontier was a crucial part of the history of the American Revolution. As for Spero’s credibility, using these primary sources gives me confidence that he is knowledgeable on the topic at hand. His use of secondary sources shows an interest in other’s perspectives on the American Revolution, which I feel strengthens his …show more content…
The book speaks of colonists wanting independence not only from Britain but also from the fear of Indians and their attacks which led to widespread panic. I feel that books speaking on less heard of people and events bring your attention to them since they’ve been obscured from the mainstream. After reading the preface, I wanted to continue reading and see how he described these times in America. My friends enjoy reading fiction, but I think they would enjoy this book since they most likely haven’t heard of these events. One thing I liked the most about this book is that Spero organizes his thoughts in a way I enjoy reading, especially when he starts to build up the emotions behind the colonist’s thoughts on Native Americans as he continues the preface. In a review of Frontier Rebels, written by Jason Pierce concludes that Spero wrote a book that expands on the larger political issues that affected the Western Frontier. Pierce claims that Spero produced a well-written, easy-to-read book on the effects of the frontier on the revolution. His overall review of Spero’s book is positive. In a second review of Spero’s book, written by Daniel Ingram, Ingram suggests that Frontier Rebels is a book that provides insight into the backcountry colonists that the imperial government failed to protect against Native American attacks. He states that