Give Me Liberty: The Uncompromising Statesmanship of Patrick Henry

Leaders in Action

by David J. Vaughan

Historians speak of the shot heard 'round the world, but the American Revolution might better be described in terms of the speech heard 'round the world. For more than two hundred years, the impassioned speech of Patrick Henry - I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! - has resounded in the hearts and minds of freedom-loving people everywhere. Henry's life embodied the spirit of American courage and patriotism. Give Me Liberty goes beyond the oratory and eloquence to portray this remarkable man, his family, his ideas, and his times.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, American History, School

306 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 1941

Reviews

[Rick Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

We read this one out loud to our kids. It's inevitable that I would like it since it's about my favorite Founding Father, and the only one who, in my opinion, realized what a bad idea the Constitution was (sorry Alexander Hamilton).

The first third of this biography was great. It was a straightforward narrative of Henry's life. The next two thirds of the book focused on what leadership lessons could be learned from the life of Patrick Henry. Unfortunately this meant that each chapter in the second part of the book focused on an abstract leadership quality and illustrated it with examples from his life. This meant that there was a lot of repetition as the same stories came up again and again, often with the same sources being cited. I think the idea of learning leadership lessons from Henry would have worked a lot better if those lessons were worked organically into the narrative of his life rather than having a sharp division in the book. Overall not a bad book as an introduction to Patrick Henry. However, the format of the book was odd, and the repetition made it hard to read out loud after a while.

[Sam Stotts]

Big fan of Mr. Henry

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Give Me Liberty is good because its subject--Patrick Henry--is so interesting, influential, and great. The book is divided into three sections: Henry's life; his character; and (briefly) his legacy. His life was amazing (perhaps more important to the Revolution than anyone save George Washington), his character was almost impeccable, and his legacy is enduring. Author David Vaughan writes on the backs of others: his sources are secondary. Vaughan also writes from a Calvinist perspective. That causes him to treat Henry's Christianity seriously, but also causes him to overstate Calvinism's importance. For instance, Vaughan all but says that Calvinists brought religious liberty to the colonies; he ignores the Baptists' profound influence in securing religious liberty and the history of Puritan persecution of Baptists in New England. There are a few other problems with the book: Vaughan treats Henry as almost flawless. And--perhaps due to the format (separate sections concerning Henry's life, character, and legacy)--there are many repetitions, which should not happen in an under 300 page (with small page size) biography. Despite these problems, Give Me Liberty contains a concise, interesting, and readable study of Henry and the leadership qualities he exhibited.

[Holli · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I am inspired by Patrick Henry and enjoy reading about founding fathers, this book fell flat for me. I felt like it repeated a lot of information. And I felt like the author felt Patrick Henry a perfect hero without any faults. Every hint of weakness or complaint by his peers was easily dismissed as if he did everything right and he alone set the colonies free of tyranny. Still learned some things but didn’t love it.

[Jennifer Parent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved learning about the life and character of Patrick Henry. I particularly liked the review of the character traits, one by one, from his life that made him who he was and can inspire the reader to a practice of the same virtues. Some really helpful insights that could be applied to current circumstances in the USA. The structure of the book had a lot of repetition.

[Susan in · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good biography for Patrick Henry if you need one for school kids. I gave this one 3 stars because it just was overly repetitive in places and it started bugging me. So bottom line, it's not bad, but neither is it "stellar." Hence, 3 stars. :)

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was an excellent read in my most humble opinion. One of the best Founder Fathers and one of the most unknown. It is sad because Patrick Henry did so much for America. Highly recommend every patriot and lover of liberty read this awesome book of such an amazing man.

[Karan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is worth the read because it gives amazing historical facts about an amazing patriot. Downside - seems cobbled together and repetitive.

[Diogenes the Dog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to read about half for a class, and it wasn’t bad, but that said, I can really only judge the biography portion.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good and inspiring!!

[Tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Er, I didn't finish. Don't get me wrong, it was an informative look into one of my favorite political figures, but it got set aside for other books that I had to read, and I haven't found the desire to pick it back up again. So I'm marking it as read and putting it in my past of books (there's too many other books in the world to read, you know?)

So why 2 stars? It wasn't intriguing, it didn't grab me and open up the imagination... it was just informative. I was hoping for a deeper look into Henry's life, why he did what he did and such. I wanted to see his personality. Not just some of his past and and such... make sense? Probably not XD Ah well. If you are looking for a good informative book, you might skim this one, otherwise, you might try something else.

[Adele Clagett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good introduction to Patrick Henry and the events surrounding his life. It kept my attention up until the section under "The Character of Patrick Henry" entitled "Vision". After that it seemed to repeat itself and a number of these sections could have been combined, such as "Religion" and "Christianity", "Humor" and "Hospitality", etc. - I wouldn't let that discourage anyone from reading this though.

I notice there are not many books about Patrick Henry even though he played a very important role in the American Revolution.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of the "Leaders in Action" series, currently 16 books on different leader.
I recommend getting these volumes. They are not expensive and their great "airplane" books for traveling. The focus is always on leadership. Written by different authors but with similar format. I currently have five of them and have read them serveral times.
First half is the story of the the characters life, then the second half brings out leadership traits.

[Devonne West · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. I learned a lot about Patrick Henry and the many positive character traits possessed by the man. I was greatly impressed when I think of the courage he showed when he stood for liberty, even against some of the other Founding Fathers didn't.

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through the paged of this book I met Patrick Henry, through the pages of this book Patrick Henry became my friend.

[Tirzah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in early high school. Interesting read with loads of facts about the great orator and life during the Revolutionary War era. Recommend for youngsters who enjoy biographies!

[Clara (aka Kurara)]

In comparison to other sources, it seemed slightly bias in Edward's favor.