| International Standard Book Number |
9781324124542
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| International Standard Book Number |
1324124547
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| Personal Name |
Parkinson, Robert G., author. .
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| Title Statement |
Tyrants and rogues : understanding the Declaration of Independence / Robert G. Parkinson.
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| Publisher |
New York : W.W. Norton and Company, 2026.
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| Physical Description |
352 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.
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| Content Type |
still image sti rdacontent.
|
| Content Type |
text txt rdacontent.
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| Media Type |
unmediated n rdamedia.
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| Carrier Type |
volume rdacarrier.
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| Formatted Contents Note |
The king and his inner circle --The king's officers --778 tyrants: parliament --The king's fighters --These united colonies.
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| Summary, Etc. |
We think of the Declaration of Independence as timeless. We know the sacred phrases: "all men are created equal," "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," "self-evident truths," "certain inalienable rights." These are some of the most important words human beings have ever written. And they are all from the Declaration's preamble, which has inspired people for centuries, including generations of revolutionaries all over the world. But as historian Robert G. Parkinson points out, the Declaration was not written as a timeless statement of political philosophy. It was, rather, produced in the heat of a confusing, bloody, and desperate war. And in that moment, it wasn't high ideals alone the drove the patriots forward. Parkinson's great innovation is to allow us, 250 years on, to see the Declaration as its authors did. For them, the opening paragraphs were not the main event. It was the body of the Declaration--the twenty-seven grievances against King George--that formed the essential part. Even Thomas Jefferson would have been puzzled by history's fixation on his opening sentences. Parkinson takes us into the grievances, giving us stories of the Revolutionary era that are little known today but loomed large for the patriots. Front book flap.
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| Subject |
United States. Declaration of Independence.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Revolutionaries.
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| Index Term-Genre/Form |
Informational works. lcgft.
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