This book provides more context and detail to the way information was disseminated in the early days of the revolution, including that Paul Revere was joined by others to proclaim "The Readcoats are coming."

"The Ride" is a well-written history detailing the events leading up to the Battle of Lexington and Concord, including the rides of Paul Revere and others to warn the Boston countryside of the British army’s approach. Author Kostya Kennedy begins the book with an introduction to Revere himself, a silversmith, engraver, artist, and even dentist, with a passion for liberty and the ability to ride long distances quickly to facilitate communications among various colonies. Kennedy includes sketches of such notables as English General Thomas Gage, his wife Margaret, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Dr. Joesph Warren as well as descriptions of important events such as the Townsend and Intolerable Acts, The Boston Massacre, The Boston Tea Party, The Suffolk Resolves, The First Continental Congress, and Lexington and Concord. Kennedy also imparts some of the flavor of the times with descriptions of what 1775 Boston was like. All in all, a good choice for readers interested in American Colonial History, Paul Revere, and/or the American Revolution.

My thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and author Kostya Kennedy for providing me with a complimentary ARC. All of the foregoing is my honest and independent opinion.

I enjoyed learning more about Paul Revere's ride in new nonfiction book including things that I didn't learn in school.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book. The opinions are my own and freely given.

This is a well written book telling the story of Paul Revere. How he grew up, how he became part of the group that saved America from the British, and what he did with his life after The Ride.

I got more background of what sparked that ride and what the night was really like. I didn't know there was another "ride" that night either, but Paul Rever's is the one that everyone knows about.

This was a short, fast-read and very informational

I realized I don’t know enough about American. history!!! This really went into what really happened during Paul Revere’s famous ride. It was a fascinating book about an American legend. It is extremely engaging and drew me in from the beginning.
Perfect for people of all ages. I look forward to more books about this author. Many thanks to the author, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
#TheRideBook #StMartinsPress #NetGalley #PaulRevere #BookLove #Bookstagram #NewBook #ILoveBooks #NewBiography

As a lover of all things related to the Revolutionary War, I was very excited to read The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night that Saved America. I'm always a little hesitant to read nonfiction, not because I don't love to learn, but because I never know how the author is going to decide to put their information out there. I'm happy to report that Kostya Kennedy gave you all the facts in an easy to read style, chronologically, with lots of background info, but not in a dry, professorial way. We're given a run up to the Revolutionary War, and then given a chance to ride along with Paul Revere on his infamous ride. We also got to hear about some of the other Sons of Liberty, and how Paul Revere fit into their stories, as well.

All in all, I enjoyed this book very much, and highly recommend it.

5/5 stars.

*** I would like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Kostya Kennedy for the opportunity to read and review The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night that Saved America.

At first I was skepical that anyone could get an entire book from Revere's eighteen-mile ride on a single night during the complex mess that we now call the Revolutionary War.

But I LOVRD this book.

It's exactly the kind of history I like most: well researched evocations of all the people involved, not just military leaders. Kennedy takes the time to give vivid biographical sketches of key people on both sides (key being those around Revere, including some whose names are scarcely a footnote in broader histories), and then conveys a cinematic feel for the geography of the time. What it must have been like to live there. What everyone saw. What the survivors said later.

Then, after the Ride, we get a sketch of the poem that kept the legend alive, and then brief sketches of other famous riders.

All in all, I thought it was a terrific book for the sort of person who walks the Freedom Trail, or goes to various sites, and squints past telephone poles and stuccoed box buildings and automobiles and all the other detritus of modern life for what it must have been like in those tense days.

The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night that Saved America by Kostya Kennedy is a deeper look into Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride. On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere, a Boston silversmith, engraver and an anti-British political operative, set out for a crucial mission to alert the awaiting American colonists of the advancing British troops. He had completed similar missions before and yet, this one would help change the American Revolution from isolated skirmishes to a full fledged war and would cement Revere as one of America’s heroes and legends. Digging deeper into the events which would lead to the famous ride, Kennedy details the coordinated pieces to the puzzle. We all know the ride and its importance to American history, but do we know the events and the people who made it happen?
I love American history and I knew Paul Revere’s famous ride, even Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s favorite poem which recounted, “One, if by land, and two, if by sea.” Perfectly timed for the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride, I was ready to dive into Kostya Kennedy’s investigation into this historical event. What the book did was open up much more into the event that I never knew. Through primary and secondary sources, family letters and diaries and so much more, we learn that history is so much more complex than we learned as children in school. While Revere was central to the mission’s planning, he had a lot of help and information from unlikely sources. Told through dramatic and thrilling narrative, The Ride is an engaging page turner! I highly, highly recommend The Ride.

The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night that Saved America
is available in hardcover, eBook and audiobook

Kostya Kennedy's The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America is a brief but thorough exploration of Paul Revere, his defining moment and the way it was forgotten and then revitalized. April 1775 was when tensions between the American colonists and their British rulers were reaching a crisis point.

Kennedy sets the scene by first going back and discussing Revere's upbringing and skills that made him such a personable and stalwart figure. He had become one of the best dispatch riders available to the patriots. Revere was important, but he was not the only rider, Kennedy notes that their numbers actually were as high as 40.

While a short book, Kennedy paces it well, the chapters focused on the ride of the title are the longest and full of the drama of the moment and how simple accidents of fates or improved knowledge of the local area could have changed the outcome of what accorded at Lexington and Concord.

Kennedy also details the legacy, and the importance of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Paul Revere's Ride" in cementing Revere's legacy. Longfellow's poem arrived just before the American Civil War. Kennedy was able to visit the church tower where the 2 lanterns were (briefly) displayed. He also talked with descendants of Revere, and while modern infrastructure makes it impossible to recreate the full ride on horse, it is drive-able.

Recommended to readers of American history, foundational myths vs. documented fact, and the legacy of history in the modern environment.

It is interesting the things we choose to remember and glorify - both individually and collectively. Paul Revere looms large in many American's mind because he is a testament to speed, cunning and effective communication to spark revolution and independence. But how did these get attributed to fairly ordinary single man when so many others did the same and had equally rhyme-able names?
This well researched book looks at a few years of PR's life and the people surrounding him - well, only white men and black men that were slaves. The epilogue at the end was the most interesting and informative as it discusses similar riders and incidents in revolutionary war era.

This is a well-written, entertaining, meticulously researched biography. It is interesting and informative, and gives a detailed account of Paul Revere's famous ride, and the events preceding and following it, as well as an enlightening description of his life and family. The beautiful pictures at the beginning of each chapter add depth in their illustration of this work. This book has piqued my interest in learning more about the historical figures mentioned in the book, and visiting the sites that are mentioned. I especially enjoyed the reference to Paul Revere's great-great-great-great granddaughter, and the message that a single conscious act can change the world. Many thanks to Mr. Kennedy, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley, from whom I received an advanced reader copy of this fascinating book. This is my honest opinion.

Schools teach an abreviated story of Paul Revere's ride to warn colonists of British soldiers approach. The United States of America is almost 250 years old, yet still referred to as a "young" country. I've read many biographies of the founding fathers and the cast of citizens who risked all to free themselves from British rule, But I'd never seen nor heard of one for Paul Revere. One man's efforts stood out against the challenges faced by all, yet there had been little to distinguish his story from any other....until now. Kostya Kennedy gives readers an excellent trip into early colonist life as he builds Revere's back story from a young age. His research shows in the small things, including the names and stories of those citizens who would ride aalong Revere that night to spread the word.
This is not a dry recital of facts. Kennedy has woven the factual events into a fascinating look at how Revere and his compatriots would have lived under British rule. Then we see how the promise of self rule was a driving force. This is a fascinating....there's that word again....story that would make an excellent thesis for seniors or an original gift for the history lover in your family. I know several on my "hard to shop for" list that will be thrilled to have this book.

I enjoyed this well written and finely researched account of Paul Revere. The author has done extensive research from historical accounts as well as family accounts. I highly recommend this book for all who enjoy American history. Thank you to Net Galley,, The author and the publisher for the opportunity for review. My review opinions are my own.

Of particular fascination for this reader was the author's telling of who Paul Revere was and how he operated as a patriot. for the American cause. He was a well rounded individual driven by a large family to care for and a wish for a Democracy. He had the intelligence and foresight to understand the British cause was not in the best interest of America. Before he took that ride he had gathered intelligence and knew the British plan had to be stopped. A very intelligent individual he is the epitome of American individualism. The author has gathered extensive knowledge of him and others also who rode that fateful night.

I highly recommend this body of work for all who enjoy American history. This is a must read for the armchair historian . Very well done to the author and I appreciated the attention to detail.

Every American student has been taught about the ride of Paul Revere in 1775. Not everyone has been taught that Revere did not make the ride alone, or that he had previously ridden to pass on news of the movements of British troops. This book details Revere’s life – and that of many other American revolutionaries, some household names, some not – and his involvement in the cause of American independence.

From extensive research that included diaries, archives and family letters, the author presents a comprehensive narrative of events that helped set the American Revolution in motion. While there were times when the book read like a history textbook, I enjoyed it overall, especially because it included the contributions of William Dawes, Solomon Brown, John Pulling, Dr. Joseph Warren and more.

The Ride Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America by Kostya Kennedy was received directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. I had never read this author before but I had heard the story, hopefully we all have. I learned more about Paul Revere and the ride in this book than i had ever heard before. This book covers the ride very well as well as covering other aspects of the era, the time period and the night in question. If you, or someone you buy gifts for wants to learn more about American history, this is a good book to have on hand, especially with Americas 250th Anniversary coming up next year.

4 Stars, just because a Five Star Review is very, very special.

Combining a biography and history, Kostya Kennedy brings the history and characters to life in The Ride – Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America. The book focuses on the night of the famous ride, April 18 – 19, 1775. However, it sets the scene with information on Revere from the time he is fifteen when he was a bell ringer at the Old North Church and an apprentice silversmith to his father.

Revere was a silversmith, an engraver, a dentist, and an anti-British operative and express rider. While an artisan, he talked with and was friends with the wealthy, other artisans, tradespeople, and farmers. Revere was eager, curious, hardworking, confident, intelligent, persevering, and had a social manner that enabled him to deliver and gather information on behalf of the rebel leaders such as John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Joseph Warren. He also had a large family to support and thus, the multiple ways he had of making money. Revere firmly believed the colonists needed to resist the ever-increasing efforts the British had taken to intimidate and subdue them. Each new decree brought widening discontent and he spread the word of events and actions between Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.

The author has a style of writing that is thought-provoking and provides new-to-me information about Revere and the fateful ride. I found it especially interesting to see how different the rides of Revere and William Dawes were on that night. My one small quibble was that there was some repetitiveness in the book. It’s also highly focused on the events of and leading up to the night of April 18, 17175. Thus, it isn’t a full biography. However, the title tells readers where the focus will be.

Overall, this was an excellent, but focused biography and colonial history book that was well-researched and written in an engaging manner. The author visited many of the locations and provides an extensive bibliography of books, articles, websites, documents, and more.

St. Martin’s Press and Kostya Kennedy provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for March 25, 2025.

I enjoyed reading this book. This book provides a deep dive into Paul Revere. This is a well researched and well written book. One of the interesting points is what would have happened had Paul Revere not made that ride. William Dawes, the second rider, is also covered in this book.
If you enjoy learning about history, this is an excellent read.

There has to be a story behind Kostya Kennedy, author of four well-regarded sports books, pivoting toward Paul Revere’s midnight ride from Boston to Concord to warn the rebels that the British were on their way to target their materiel. But we don’t hear it. Funnily for a time when puffy “author’s notes” often swell the beginnings of nonfiction books, The Ride does not even have an introduction, though perhaps the six full paragraphs of what-if questions that kick off the first chapter are it.

This book succeeds in one way and fails in another. In expanding on one of the most popular but vaguely told myths in grade-school American history classes, Kennedy has a few points to teach. Inspired by Revere’s decision to shine one lantern from the spire of the Old North Church if the British left Boston by land and two if they did so in ships, Henry Wadsforth Longfellow memorably transformed Revere’s signals into:
He said to his friend, “If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light, —
One, if by land, and two, if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be.
Revere was a kind of Revolutionary War era ancestor to the modern gig economy, and an ambitious member of the growing middle class. He was an engraver, a smith, and a dentist. And he was a professional express rider, at a time before railroads and when what roads existed were bad. The famous ride to Lexington and Concord was not his first (more like his ninth or tenth on behalf of the rebel cause), and he was chosen for the famous ride because he was known as one of the best: “The countryside was alive with Minutemen, and anyone would have known the name Paul Revere, and anyone would have given him a meal and a place to sleep. They knew of Paul Revere, express rider, in every town in Massachusetts Bay and the Province of New Hampshire, and in every colony north of Virginia. They knew about Paul Revere—had seen his name in the papers—three thousand miles and an ocean away, in London, in Edinburgh, in Derbyshire.”

“The missions weren’t solely for the advancement of the movement and its principles. They also generated income.” Quite a lot, in fact: for one ride, he earned five pounds and fourteen shillings. That equates to about £1,177, or $1,520 in today’s currency. (Despite several references to pounds and shillings, the author omitted conversions.)

I was not convinced that The Ride was a coherent concept of a book. It is too sparse in its treatment of Revere’s life, career, and correspondence to be a serious biography. It plods and pads with imagined meditations. (“He had strolled on these streets with Sarah and with Rachel and with his parents. The streets of Revere’s entire life, and now the streets where his son Paul and his other children made their daily way. These were streets and paths and alleyways, corners and bends, that Revere knew as well as any man alive. Moonlight, no moonlight, the full blackness of the narrowest way, no matter. Blind, he could have found Warren’s front door.”)

Being centered on an eighteenth-century subject, The Ride falls prey to the post-2020 requirement of shoehorning in a lecture on slavery, however irrelevant. Worse, Kennedy interrupts an otherwise exciting narrative to devote an entire chapter to slavery. You may be wondering why this was done, considering that neither Revere nor anyone in his family owned any slaves (the de rigeur term now is “enslaved people,” which is obviously better than “slaves” in the same way that “people of color” is better than “colored people”). Kennedy’s excuse is that on one ride, as Revere spotted British officers, he happened to have stopped at the same spot where a slave, Mark, convicted of poisoning his owner, was hanged from a tree — twenty years earlier. An important story, no doubt, but out of place here.

Toward of the end of the book, Kennedy attempts an answer to a perplexing question: considering that Revere was but one of many express riders who performed valuable services on behalf of the rebels, why do we remember Revere at the expense of the others? His answer — that Revere’s network of contemporary friends and acquaintances was broader than those of other riders — is plausible. Invoking the midwit psychology of Malcolm Gladwell to justify that not-mindblowing conclusion was probably not necessary. It also signaled that Kennedy may intend to sell The Ride more to his audience of sports fans than to students of American history.

The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America, by Kostyra Kennedy, was meticulously researched and oddly disappointing for two reasons. First, the author intersperses the story of Revere's ride with truly important contextual information about the social structure, slavery in Massachusetts, the role of other riders and the Patriot network of which Paul Revere was a respected leader. I learned so much about the communication network and its necessity to inform and protect the citizenry. Unfortunately, the detours tended to diminish the tension of the ride(s) themselves as the continuity was broken. Secondly, there is simply much that cannot be known. The author often offered conjecture about what Revere or other riders saw or felt. I agree with other reviewers that this incredible example of patriotism and community is important and needs much more than the famous Longfellow poem. I also agree that this might have been a better read as historical fiction. As is, it is valuable but a slow and somewhat disjointed read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read a digital ARC.

A wonderful deeper look into the man we all remember from the poem "Paul Revere's Ride'. There is a lot of information and it is it written well. A little dry in parts but it is a history book and deems to be informative more than entertaining. A good read for historical buffs wanting to learn more about the man who was the Paul Revere.