Guilty Pleasures: Independence Day
I am a history dork. One of my favorite subjects to read about is Colonial American history. I love Independence Day. I don’t memorize all the battles of the wars but I can not get enough information about how this great country of ours was founded. I read it for fun. My living room color is based upon a picture I saw in a book of George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Yup, like I said, history dork through-and-through.
I thought I’d give you a rundown of some historically-based portrayals of the American Revolution. It might encourage you to dust off your history books to read a more accurate story of how our great nation came to be!
I remember when I watched Johnny Tremain in 5th grade during an assembly at school, it helped the Revolution come to life. As an adult, I see that it’s a very 1950s Disney version of the Revolution. However, it’s still a good way to introduce the topic to the kiddos. The movie is based upon the Newberry Award-winning book, Johnny Tremain. So in a way, we can blame my love of Colonial American History on my teachers, Mr Berken and Mr. Paplham. They helped bring out my inner history dork.
1776. It’s a musical movie based upon actual events, not a documentary. Hey, do you really think Ben Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson sat outside the chambers of Congress and sang a song called “The Egg”? (If you get the movie channel TCM, they will also be airing this on the 4th of July at 4pm–their time listed is for the Eastern time zone.)
The most amazing thing about my dorkdom is that I didn’t actually see this movie until I was an adult!?
PBS did a much-acclaimed docudrama called Liberty! The American Revolution that is good, too.
John Adams is the critically-acclaimed miniseries on our nation’s 2nd president, who, in my opinion, does not get enough credit for all he did for his country. This movie is based upon the biographical book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough, John Adams.
McCullough also wrote a beautiful non-fiction book called 1776. I have coffee-table version called 1776: The Illustrated Edition. It’s got pull-out maps and a copy of the Declaration of Independence. If I had a coffee table, it would be right on top!
Oh, yeah, Dork Alert is off the charts right now.
And speaking of Adams, let’s not forget his ballsy wife, Abigail. She and many other women were fighting for the cause of independence, too, but history books are only starting to reflect it. A good read is Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation. And while you’re at it, you might want to check out Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation and Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence while you’re at it.
Those are just a FEW of the many books and DVDs I have in my personal library on one of my favorite subjects: the history of this great, if sometimes flawed, nation. I hope you’re enjoying your holiday and remember the immense leap of faith and sacrifices those brave women and men made.
Guilty Pleasures are posts of things that personally interest me, NOT necessarily fabulous deals. Sometimes it ties in to a current event. Sometimes I just like to share. And if you think I dorked it up big-time, just wait until the Olympic Games starts in a few weeks. 
Comments
Tell us what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
