What are the main points of the book Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer?Points that are crucial to understanding this book. Major events...

Among the main points of the book Paul Revere’s
Ride, by David Hackett Fischer, are the following (as outlined by Fischer
himself in his introduction to the
book):

• Britons tend to be ignorant of the story
  of Revere, even though it is well known to many
  Americans.


• In Hackett’s own
  words,

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Ambiguity is an important part of the legend of
Paul Revere, and a key to its continuing
vitality.

• Even
  though the story is often repeated, especially to children, tellers of the story tell it
  in various ways and are not sure which parts of it are
  true.


• Some students of the story like to celebrate it,
  while others like to debunk it.


• Partly for both of the
  reasons just mentioned, the story of Revere’s ride has influenced many later works,
  including books, films, and even pieces of music.


• Yet
  professional historians have paid surprisingly little attention to the
  story.


• Partly this neglect by historians is due to a
  disdain for popular history.


• Partly the neglect of the
  story by historians has resulted from disdain for simple
  patriotism.


• Partly the neglect of the story by historians
  has resulted from a general neglect of narrative history of all
  sorts.


• The neglect of Revere’s story is a symptom of
  larger shortcomings in the contemporary study of history by professional
  historians.


• The focus of Hackett’s book is therefore on
  “contingent” events – that is, events that might have developed differently in any
  number of ways.  “Contingent” events are by definition
  unpredictable.


• One central focus of the book is Paul
  Revere, who has not received the attention he
  deserves.


• Another central focus of the book is General
  Thomas Gage, the British commander, who has tended to be neglected on both sides of the
  Atlantic.


• In Hackett’s opinion, Gage
  was

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truly a tragic figure, a good and decent man who
was undone by his
virtues.

• Gage
  played a very important but overlooked role in shaping Britain’s policies toward America
  and thus in helping to foment the American rebellion.


• One
  function of the book is to examine the cultural contexts in which Revere and Gage
  acted.


• For Americans of Revere’s generation, Revere’s
  ride was recalled as a highly significant event.


• The
  words Revere and Gage used to describe their values were often highly similar, despite
  the conflict between these two figures.


• Despite the
  similar language Revere and Gage used, their real values differed
  greatly.


• Revere’s values differed from our own, even
  though he used language that we still use today to describe our own (significantly
  different) values.


• Revere believed
  in

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ordered freedom, which gave heavy weight to
collective rights and individual responsibilities – more so than is given by our modern
calculus of individual rights and collective
responsibilities.

• These
  are just a few of the points Hackett makes about his own book in the introduction to
  that volume.