HIstory websites

Surfing through the myriad of websites in work for school and leisure, the presentation of the historical aspect of the American Revolution was always interesting. Obviously, there are websites of all colors, designs and shapes that supposed to gratify even the most sophisticated visitor. Are they?

American Revolution
http://www.americanrevolution.com/people.html

The website seems the most classical version of this kind, since it pops up almost everywhere the researcher is trying to pursue this or that subject. It subdivided by three major parts: “A History”, “Documents” and “People”. Clicking on “People”, for example, the screen automatically brings you to the most important chapters of this subdivision, such as “The Founding Fathers”, “African-Americans in the Revolutionary period”, “Martyrs and Heroes” and the like. The links are easy to navigate and they give a lot of information: biographical sketches, extracts from the mémoires and excerpts. There are lots of pictures (many of them however, of contemporary artists, which is downsize of the design), portraits and famous wall paintings. Sadly, when the website discusses Revolutionary war battles, there is no immediate map attached to the text (though major map does exist) but through the navigator it is possible to get a reference from other sites.

Sponsored by the Google, US Army Reserve and several other commercial and governmental entities, the website presents lots of exchange banners and advertisement. However, the website is designed for a general audience, for it has discussion Forum and could be as a great help to anyone looking for to obtaining preliminary information on various aspects of the American Revolution.


American Revolution
http://www.theamericanrevolution.org/

As its above namesake, the website is also divided into several subchapters: “Important People”, “Battles”, “Historical Documents” and others, including “Recommended reading” and “Chat.” Aiming towards the special audience, Joseph T. Logan, the founder of the website notes that “Scholars and educators in today's society have a difficult time in convincing our children of the importance of history. We must do our best to find better ways of making the teachings of the founding of our nation more interesting to our youngsters.”

He, however, finds the “better ways” by presenting all white, male, Christian, Anglo-Saxon, to name but a few, history of the American Revolution. Among twenty-five “Important people” there is no place for Marquise de Lafayette or Martha Washington, not to mention any of the Africans or Native Americans. From the other hands, the military section is very extensive. Not only the website provide the information on date, location and opposing forces, but by clicking on a single battle one could get a link to the information on general overview, synopsis and effects of the encounter. It also gives a recommended reading, map and pictures (some are mislabeled, however), where available.

Section on documents provides link to “who, when, where, why and what” on many primary sources from the “Boston Massacre Oration” (1774) to “Sedition Act” (1798). The author also scanned original documents and with the high quality resolution monitor one could get a nice view of many historical papers and pamphlets.
Although obviously biased, this website, certainly, could serve as an excellent assistance to the instructor, for it provides easy-to-navigate tool for introduction of the major events of the American Revolution along with numerous first-hand documentation.