Breaking Loose Together: The Regulator Rebellion in Pre-Revolutionary North Carolina

Rating:
Summary: Frankly, I'm disappointed
Review: The "War" of the Regulation in NC has long cried out for an in-depth history, one that avoids the romanticism (First Battle of the Revolution!) and the innacuracies (Regulators vs. the British!).

The truth of the matter is that neither side in the conflict wore white hats. While the colonial government, like all British-styled colonial governments, supported "court house rings" and was not responsive to the justifiable complaints of its under-represented citizenry, the Regulators were, by any standard, insurrectionists. They took up arms against their governnment, destroyed property, endagered public officials and threatened to march on the capitol at New Bern. It is difficult to imagine any government threatened by such a situation not taking up arms to curtail it. There was much blame due each side.

Ms. Kars comes down early on the side of Regulators, missing the balance that such a history deserves. She gives far too much weight to her belief that the dissent in the backcountry was linked to a religious upswelling, ignoring that the Carolina backcountry was noted by many sources as being nearly totally irreligious.

Her work does contain an accounting of the period and its major events; but the reader should consider that the account she presents is slanted toward the Regulators.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Colonial History
Review: This is not just a superb telling of the story of the Regulator movement in preRevolutionary North Carolina, but rather a topnotch explanation of colonial economics, religiion and government as it applied in the South at that time. This book does for North Carolina what Rhys Isaac has done for Virginia in the same era. This book is for both the scholar and the novice. For those who feel the Revolution was due to simply "No taxation without representation," please read this book. There is much more to the story of the Revolution and this book goes far toward explaining it.

Rating:
Summary: A TOP 5 ALL TIME BOOK ON NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY
Review: WHAT A GREAT BOOK IVE ALWYS BEEN A FAN OF THIS TIME IN NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY. AND MAJOLEINE KARS HAS WRITTEN IT LIKE I WAS THERE EVEN DURING THE BATTLE OF ALAMANCE. IF U LOVE THIS TIME THAN BY ALL MEANS GET THIS BOOK U WONT BE ABLE TO PUT IT DOWN