Ray Raphael – författare

With the entry of the Tea Party onto the US political scene, America's Constitution has become a political battleground, with liberals and conservatives trading fire over its meaning and intent. Amid all the hubbub, historian Ray Raphael was struck by how much both sides got wrong, and how falsehoods have largely overtaken history in Americans' understanding of the nation's most important document. In Constitutional Myths, he sorts out the truth from fiction, juxtaposing what historians know about the Constitution with what most Americans and politicians think they know.

First published ten years ago, award-winning historian Ray Raphael's Founding Myths has since established itself as a landmark of historical myth-busting. With the author's trademark wit and flair, Founding Myths exposes the errors and inventions in America's most cherished tales, from Paul Revere's famous ride to Patrick Henry's Liberty or Death' speech. For the 70 thousand readers who have been captivated by Raphael's eye-opening accounts, history has never been the same. A welcome resource for anyone seeking to separate historical fact from fiction.'

Many people know about the Boston Tea Party and 'the shot heard 'round the world' that began the American Revolution, but 16 months divided these two iconic events, a period that has nearly been lost to history. The Spirit of '74 fills in this gap in America's founding narrative, showing how in these mislaid months, step by step, real people made a revolution. This exciting text places America's founding moment in a rich and new historical context, both changing and deepening its meaning.

A People's History Of The American Revolution draws upon diaries, personal letters and other Revolutionary-era treasures, weaving a thrilling, 'you are there' narrative - 'a tapestry that uses individual experiences to illustrate the larger stories' (Los Angeles Times Book Review). In the trademark style of Howard Zinn, Raphael shifts the focus away from George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to the slaves they owned, the natives they displaced and the men and boys who did the fighting.