BOOK BEVIEWS [ l6g ] of the Revolution is to determine "the means and the measures" by which "Thirteen clocks were made to strike together!' Much time has been spent pursuing the origins of the Revolution and relatively little probing the organizational structure of the protest-independence movement and the mechanics of the transformation from dependent colonies to independent states. In short, we have not yet finished making books about the American Revolution. Forty years after British regulars and Massachusetts militiamen first exchanged musketfire at Lexington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the chief architects of American independence, doubted that anyone could ever write a history of the Revolution "except merely its external facts!' Nevertheless, the quest for a better understanding of, and appreciation for, our Revolutionary heritage persists. And of the impending bicentennial celebration this much is certain: long after the commemorative medals have tarnished, the pseudo-patriotic orations and pageants have been forgotten, the commercial memorabilia have been destroyed, and the pages of hastily prepared historical hackwork have yellowed, substantive scholarship, as represented by these two volumes, will stand as an enduring monument to the spirit of Seventy-six and the creation of the American republic. larry r. gerlach, University of Utah