About the Author

SERENA ZABIN is a professor of history and chair of the History Department at Carleton College. Her books include Dangerous Economies: Status and Commerce in Imperial New York and she is also the codesigner of a forthcoming serious video game about the Boston Massacre, Witness to the Revolution.

Reviews

"A lively gem of a book that expands our view of early-modern military life, pre-revolutionary Boston, and, in turn, the American Revolution." -- Washington Post"A well-written, thoroughly interesting addition to the social history of the American Colonies." -- Kirkus Reviews"Penetrating and lyrical, Zabin's Boston Massacre offers startling revelations on every page. To read this "family history" is to tread the cobbled streets of eighteenth-century British America, peering into shops, barracks, bedrooms, and government halls along the way. Zabin's account ripples far beyond Boston on the vexed night of March 5, 1770, offering fresh understandings of the cause of liberty and its consequences. The American Revolution--indeed, early urban warfare itself--will never look the same." -- Jane Kamensky, Trumbull Professor of American History, Harvard University, and author of A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton Copley "Zabin's engaging history adds nuance and complexity to the political and social aspects of the American Revolution." -- Booklist"A compelling history of the Boston Massacre, weaving personal stories together to present a comprehensive view of this turning point incident." -- Library Journal"Historical accuracy and human understanding require coming down from the high ground and seeing people in all their complexity. Serena Zabin's rich and highly enjoyable book does just that." -- Kathleen DuVal, Wall Street Journal "An intimate, complex, and moving picture of the friendships and family connections between Britons and Bostonians, in the throes of revolutionary change. Zabin's eloquent account illuminates the ways in which the actors in this nation-making and empire-breaking drama experienced the rupture and transformation of the world they made together." -- Peter S. Onuf, author, with Annette Gordon-Reed, of Most Blessed of the Patriarchs: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination