Greatness to Spare: The Heroic Sacrifices of the Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence

by T.R. Fehrenbach

Fifty six men signed the Declaration of Independence, and of those, not one recanted. "Greatness to Spare" is the story of what happened after these patriots signed that historic document.

Fehrenbach's compelling account of the ordeal of 42 of the signers: men who risked all they had for the concept in which they believed -- liberty. During the terrible years from 1776 to 1782, for their defiant "treasonous act" they were hunted down, their property confiscated, and their families persecuted. You'll hear little-known true stories of some of the most famous men in American history.

247 pages, Hardcover

Published June 1, 1999

About the author

Theodore Reed Fehrenbach, Jr. was an American historian, columnist, and the former head of the Texas Historical Commission (1987-1991). He graduated from Princeton University in 1947, and had published more than twenty books, including the best seller Lone Star: A History of Texas and Texans and This Kind of War, about the Korean War.

Although he served as a U.S. Army officer during the Korean War, his own service is not mentioned in the book. Fehrenbach also wrote for Esquire, The Atlantic, The Saturday Evening Post, and The New Republic. He was known as an authority on Texas, Mexico, and the Comanche people. For almost 30 years, he wrote a weekly column on Sundays for the San Antonio Express-News. T.R. Fehrenbach was 88 years old at the time of his death.

Reviews

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book, as evidenced that I read it twice. I don't do that to too many books. It had a lot of little known facts about great men. If you are a fan of history and particularly American History as I am I think you would love it. I loved the way it was organized, telling the story of the men from each colony together. It helped me to understand the men, the times in which they lived, and the courage to do something which we sometimes underestimate and take for granted. Everyone says that if we had lost the revolution they would have paid. Well they and their families started paying for their courageous acts immediately. It humbled me and made me grateful for them. I am a better person for reading this book. I believe this book is out of print. I had read a xeroxed copy first before I got this copy online used. Then I read this book and now I have read it again. I will probably read it again in a few years. Definitely one of those books I wanted to own.

[Nancy]

This books was an eye opener to me as I never gave a thought to what these men may have gone through in signing this wonderful document. As land owners and prominent citizens, they faced great danger to themselves and their families in order to stand against their government and its tyranical treatment of the colonies. I highly recommend this book to all.

[Morning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very enlightening to see what happened to the men who signed the Declaration
We are not aware they risked not only their lives but their future.

[Marty Ohlhaut · Rating 5 out of 5]

These signers had bravery, integrity and courage we can hardly imagine today.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book describes the lives of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the sacrifices made by these men and their families as a result of their decision. It was written in the 1950's by T.R. Fehrenbach in a somewhat scholarly fashion which consequently made it a little difficult to read.

Although I really want to finish the book and I truly value the stories of these people, I have gotten through the Jersey signers which is 1/3 of the way through the book and am sad to say that I may not finish. My wish is that someone (maybe someone has) will take these stories and make them a little more reader friendly. This is an advanced course in U.S. history. I enjoyed the idea of knowing all about these men, but I can't hang to the end.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this book two stars only because it wasn't very excititng to read. It was however, interesting to learn about the many sacrifices that these men endured after signing. I don't think we see that kind of loyalty and commitment to a cause like that everday, it was inspiring to say the least. I wonder why we don't learn about this during the course of our education. I think that students should hear about these men and their experiences after signing..we could all learn from them.