Throughout our history, the story of the American Revolution has been cheapened by both myth-making and myth-busting, by trite stories of heroes and villains as much as by highly-wrought narratives of lip-service covering up for Marxian-style exploitation-stories that rob us of any useful sense of how this country came about, or why anyone would care. Practically forgotten today, Sydney G. Fisher changed this. He was one of the first (and perhaps one of the few) historians to combine a seasoned researcher's respect for evidence with a political scientist's insight into the uses of power and the struggles of government. And he had an unrivalled gift for story-telling. Fisher made a second career out of this kind of history (his first was as a lawyer), publishing a dozen books on American topics, in addition to his professional law review articles. He wrote a lively paper for the American Philosophical Society censuring the widespread practice of making things up, but without losing his dryly humorous touch. (For the reader's benefit, that paper is reprinted at the end of this volume.) Fisher understood the role of myth-making in American life, but he also believed the truth was worth knowing. It might not be what people expected, but there was value in it. "Why be so scared and timorous about the original evidence," he wrote, "and why conceal it. After the first plunge and shock of the cold water is over, you will enjoy it. The real Revolution is more useful and interesting than the make believe one. The actual factions, divisions, mistakes, atrocities, if you please, are far more useful to know about than the pretense that there were none." Fisher believed in America, and he believed we would be better Americans when we got our story straight.