MIDNIGHT ALARM: The Story of Paul Revere's Ride

Youngsters who listen to Mrs. Phelan first will hear Longfellow with incredulity -- this is the way it was, in a simple reconstruction buttressed by extensive research. Revere is in his shop (making dentures now that blockaded Boston can't afford silver bowls) but his mind is on the patriots: John Adams and John Hancock are in Lexington waiting to go to the Second Contintental Congress, the rebel militia is amassing arms in Concord. And the British are stirring. . . How Revere arranges for the signal to be sent, then crosses to Charleston in case it wasn't received, rouses Adams and Hancock (the former reluctant to flee), is intercepted on the way to Concord and defies the British, finds himself in Lexington hiding Hancock's papers in time to hear (but not in place to see) the first shot -- starts off the Revolution with more zest than bombast. Like Four Days in Philadelphia, good history that's also a good story.