Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-282) and index.

Echoes -- The bell ringer, 1750 -- Kinship -- Portrait of the artist as a young irreverent -- A certain resolve -- The Somerset -- Portsmouth, December 1774 -- The Sunday before -- Bidden -- The estimable William Dawes -- The ride -- Mark in chains -- The ride -- Longfellow -- Echoes.

"On April 18, 1775, a Boston-based silversmith, engraver, and anti-British political operative named Paul Revere set out on a borrowed horse to fulfill a dangerous but crucial mission: to alert American colonists of advancing British troops, which would seek to crush their nascent revolt. Revere was not the only rider that night, and indeed, he had completed at least 18 previous rides throughout New England, disseminating intelligence about British movements. But this ride was like no other, and its consequences in the months and years to come--as the American Revolution morphed from isolated skirmishes to a full-fledged war--became one of our founding legends. In The Ride, Kostya Kennedy presents a dramatic new narrative of the events of April 18 and 19, 1775, informed by fresh primary and secondary source research into archives, family letters and diaries, contemporary accounts, and more"--