The Ride: an in depth investigation and recounting of the famous ride 250 years ago

The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night that Saved America by Kostya Kennedy is a deeper look into Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride. On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere, a Boston silversmith, engraver and an anti-British political operative, set out for a crucial mission to alert the awaiting American colonists of the advancing British troops. He had completed similar missions before and yet, this one would help change the American Revolution from isolated skirmishes to a full fledged war and would cement Revere as one of America’s heroes and legends. Digging deeper into the events which would lead to the famous ride, Kennedy details the coordinated pieces to the puzzle. We all know the ride and its importance to American history, but do we know the events and the people who made it happen?

I love American history and I knew Paul Revere’s famous ride, even Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s favorite poem which recounted, “One, if by land, and two, if by sea.” Perfectly timed for the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride, I was ready to dive into Kostya Kennedy’s investigation into this historical event. What the book did was open up much more into the event that I never knew. Through primary and secondary sources, family letters and diaries and so much more, we learn that history is so much more complex than we learned as children in school. While Revere was central to the mission’s planning, he had a lot of help and information from unlikely sources. Told through dramatic and thrilling narrative, The Ride is an engaging  page turner! I highly, highly recommend The Ride. 

The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night that Saved America 

is available in hardcover, eBook and audiobook