THOSE YANKEE REBELS

This abridged version of Those Damned Rebels follows the campaigns of the Revolutionary War from the Redcoat point of view -- in which Washington's assault on Trenton was merely a ""disagreeable occurrence"" and patriot Sam Adams a devious, unprincipled troublemaker. Pearson's battlefield coverage is lively and to the point, but much of the material -- especially on Parliamentary politics -- that justified the turnabout stance has been omitted. Those Damned Rebels is -- in the original -- an entertaining and not especially demanding work; the adaptation is so diluted that the British emphasis is almost supererogatory.