Lion of Liberty

Patrick Henry and the Call to a New Nation

By: Harlow Giles Unger

Narrated by: William Hughes

Known to generations of Americans for his stirring call to arms, “Give me liberty or give me death,” Patrick Henry is all but forgotten today as the first of the Founding Fathers to call for independence, the first to call for revolution, and the first to call for a bill of rights. If Washington was the “Sword of the Revolution” and Jefferson, “the Pen”, Patrick Henry more than earned his epithet as “the Trumpet” of the Revolution for rousing Americans to arms in the Revolutionary War. Henry was one of the towering figures of the nation’s formative years and perhaps the greatest orator in American history.

To this day, many Americans misunderstand what Patrick Henry’s cry for “liberty or death” meant to him and to his tens of thousands of devoted followers in Virginia. A prototype of the 18th- and 19th-century American frontiersman, Henry claimed individual liberties as a “natural right” to live free of “the tyranny of rulers”—American, as well as British. Henry believed that individual rights were more secure in small republics than in large republics, which many of the other Founding Fathers hoped to create after the Revolution.

Henry was one of the most important and colorful of our Founding Fathers—a driving force behind three of the most important events in American history: the War of Independence, the enactment of the Bill of Rights, and, tragically, as America’s first important proponent of states’ rights, the Civil War.

Harlow Giles Unger, a former distinguished visiting fellow in American history at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, is a veteran journalist, broadcaster, educator, and historian. His books include The Last Founding Father and four other biographies of America’s Founding Fathers, plus many more. He lives in New York.

©2010 Harlow Giles Unger (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A veteran biographer specializing in the Founding Fathers offers a short, sharp life of the Virginia patriot…A fine appreciation—and explanation—of freedom’s champion." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"[An] engaging popular biography…An appealing element here is the wealth of excerpts from Henry’s legendary speeches and revealing letters, seamlessly woven in with Unger’s narrative…. A good choice for general readers seeking a relatively brief account of Patrick Henry’s political activity and contributions to early America." ( Library Journal)

"Pat Henry wasn’t a Johnny One-Note patriot. And the author strives to reveal the whole Revolutionary enchilada here—calls to arms, demands for a bill of rights, fights against big government. Why, we could almost call this guy a Tea Party member!" ( Ashbury Park Press)

Interesting history

Great background on the birth of our country. Amazing how slavery permeated the lives of so many with a commitment to liberty. Not sure how they could square that circle.

Another view of our history

An accounting of some of the smartest people in the history of our country. How they wrote the constitution and bill of rights in what can only be difficult times and with no idea that it would last till now and I hope far into the future.

A good overview

I had very little knowledge of Patrick Henry entering into this listen. As influential as he was initially in the American Revolution, he is often overlooked today. What I liked about this book: the book did a great job of laying out the facts of Henry's life and place in eighteenth century American in an orderly fashion.
What I did not like: I did not find the book to be a particularly critical overview. It presented Henry in a glowing light but did little to go deeper in regards to analyzing his place in history.

Don't Tread On Me

To the crony Corporatist tyrannical governments of the world - you know who you are - Don't tread on me.

Incredible Biography of the best of the Founder's

I learned a great deal about Patrick Henry and his amazing contributions to liberty in America. If not for him, America could have very well become another monarchy and modern day Americans would not have the libertys we have today.

Excellent

excellent. if every America citizen or potential would read this much would be understood. Make your children read it after you.

A timely book

Right now we are in the midst of a great struggle between polarized political parties. As a Liberal, I found that this biography gave me insight into the recent actions and pronouncements of the other true believers on the other party. This could not have been more timely.

A Lesson on Vigilance of Tyranny and Government

This is a great story in the life of one of the founding colonists/revolutionarys when America was founded.

Patrick Henry was a great motivator, using his words and his actions as a legislator and a lawyer. He struggled with many difficulties, yet never tired of his quest to protect the Liberties the early settlers established prior to the revolution.

After the revolution Henry provided a voice of reason and passion at a critical time in history: writing the Constitution and accepting a new form of government of, for and by the people.

He was the conscience warning all who would listen (with excellent oratorical skill) that the young country must not install a tyrannical central government that would not oppress exactly as the British Crown had for a decade or more.

The narrator, William Hughes, does an excellent job of telling the story and using his voice to draw the listener/reader into the text.

I really enjoyed it.

This is a standard biography which I was looking for and includes contextualized engagements with other figures of the revolutionary era.

excellent account of a truly great man

i loved this book! this is one for all Americans. Patrick Henry is so much more than just his " Give me Liberty or give me death" speech. should be required reading for all schools.