A review by thewallflower00
My Brother Sam Is Dead by Christopher Collier, James Lincoln Collier

3.0

It’s much less “rah-rah-America” than I thought it would be. I was expecting something like “Johnny Tremain”, but no, this is a realistic look at the Revolutionary War before people knew how it would end. It’s like the Civil War. Neighbors are on opposite sides. As many people sided with the British as the Patriots. Soldiers from both ends victimize civilians for cows or guns. Bandits raid the roads, taking advantage of the chaos in the name of “patriotism”. If you try to sell a pig to someone who might sell it to someone who might sell it to the British, they’d just kill you. And meanwhile, the farmers are trying to stay alive in an economy where all funds have been diverted to the war effort. Reminds me of the background to Gone With the Wind where everyone’s optimistic and then it all goes to shit and it seems like the war is never going to end.

But anyway, yes, I recommend this book. The matter-of-fact tone is a pleasant change from most of the Revolutionary War novels I’ve read that were all pro-America. It doesn’t pull punches. The protagonist is well-rounded. He’s super young so he looks up to his brother and father for guidance, but they’re polarized on this issue. He starts to see the values of his world degenerate until it’s like a Mad Max apocalypse-land where natural resources are more important than money. It’s about the people behind the scenes, keeping the homefront, and no one is a saint.