Redder Badge of Courage

“April Morning," by Howard Fast, 1961

This is historical fiction about the heroic period and motivations of the American Revolution.  It is the dramatic story of the day before and the day of the confrontation on Lexington Green between British redcoats and Massachusetts farmers and townspeople.  The lead character, Adam, is a 15 year old boy, who maybe ‘becomes a man’ on that day.  It is comparable to a book many U.S. students read in high school, “The Red Badge of Courage” about the Civil War, but April Morning is better written and more believable.

The local farmers and townspeople in various villages throughout Massachusetts were organized in Committees of Correspondence – official anti-English bodies with a military arm that ‘trained’ with old birdshot guns, some rifles, even a blunderbuss.  Late on the night of April 19, an unnamed rider alerts the townspeople of Lexington to the approach of a large body of British soldiers.   They confusedly gather on the Green in the dark, argue, then decide to confront the British with words, partly led by Adam’s father Moses.  Moses is one of those people who tiresomely debates everyone about everything.  In this case he is dead set against a military confrontation.  And so they select a speaker to address the British, their Reverend.

In the cold early morning, 66 men and boys line up on Lexington Green with their shabby weapons held at ease. When the British get there, there is no ‘parlay’ or speeches.  The English fix bayonets, then open fire, killing Moses and several others, while everyone else runs for their lives, including Adam. No one shoots back. The rest of the day describes their use of exhausting ‘guerilla war’ tactics against the British, as the redcoats retreat on the road from Concord back to Boston.  This is where Adam gets his ‘baptism of fire’ and learns not to be terrified.

Of course there is a girl to impress; a mother, granny and little brother to return to; a dead Father to mourn.  The rural people did not want an invading English army, which had cruelly occupied Boston.  They resisted, initially in the most naïve way possible.  But eventually they inflicted a bloody punishment on the English army due to their extensive organization, political consciousness and anger.

This is a familiar male ‘coming of age’ narrative and would be an excellent replacement for “The Red Badge of Courage” in schools.  The problem is that ‘coming of age’ in this context reinforces the idea that warfare is ‘the’ key to masculinity – which it is not.  With that caveat… Fast’s writing is detailed, political and descriptive, to the point where you feel you have experienced what the rebels at Lexington went through.  

Fast himself was a member of the Communist Party for a time, was jailed for not naming names during the McCarthy witch-hunt, then quit the CP after the revelations about Stalin in 1956. 

Some other U.S. based political fiction reviews below:  “Spartacus,” “Citizen Tom Paine,” (Fast); “The Road,” (McCarthy) “Red Baker,” (Ward)“Factory Days,” (Gibbs)“Cade’s Rebellion,” (Sheehy) “Amiable With Big Teeth,” (McKay)“American Pastoral,” (Roth) “Go Tell It On the Mountain,” (Baldwin) “Hayduke Lives,” “The Monkey Wrench Gang,” (Abbey) “Affliction," (Banks)“Gray Mountain,” “Sycamore Row,” (Grisham), etc.  Use blog search box, upper left.

And I got it at Chapman Street Books in Ely, MN. 

Red Frog

May 28, 2019