Customer Reviews (1)

The whole story - not all stars and stripes
In this book, John C. Miller gives an excellent account of a man who served the cause of revolution from England - but at a high cost. Miller paints a view of Adams and some of his contemporaries as nothing more than trouble makers with a genius for propaganda. He gives the most balanced view of these times of almost any account I have read of the American Revolution. This is not a book for the sqeamish. I don't think he takes a revisionist viewpoint, but he certainly gives cause to reconsider the motives of Sam Adams, Otis, and others. Any writer talented enough to do that, not obscure the facts, and keep you entertained deserves a thoughtful read. Highly recommend. Even though out of print - it really shouldn't be. It is a classic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Important Revolutionary Figure
This man was the filthiest person who ever lived. Lives on in Sam's Choice brands. Made it so it was like a white man's voodoo, not a white man's ghetto like with John Smith's Baptist. I believe he was gay; he was a fruitcake. Samuel Adam's beer- I had it- makes you celebate. Love you. ... Read more

Book Description
Davy Bowman’s brother and their dad hung the moon. Dad looks forward to Halloween more than a kid, and Davy’s brother, Bill, flies B-17s. Davy adores these two heroes and tries his best to follow their lead, especially now.

World War II has invaded Davy’s homefront boyhood. There’s an air raid drill in the classroom, and being a kid is an endless scrap drive. Bill has joined up, breaking their dad’s heart. It’s an intense, confusing time, and one that will invite Davy to grow up in a hurry.

Still, Richard Peck is a master of comedy, and even in this novel of wartime uncertainty, he infuses his tale with humor: oddballs and rascals and boyhood misadventures alongside the poignant moments. This is one of Richard Peck’s very finest novels—a tender, unforgettable portrait of the World War II homefront and a family’s love.

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Customer Reviews (8)

Dr. Mary Hollowell / Teacher EDU / Clayton State University
Will Davy's fighter pilot brother survive World War II?This is the central question in Richard Peck's latest novel.The novel sweeps the duration of the war.While Davy's older brother trains for war then flies in raids, Davy and his best friend, Scooter, man the homefront.They collect rubber, paper, and scrapmetal.Ironically, their large collection of newspaper is stolen from their wagons by Boy Scouts.

The seriousness of the war is constantly being broken by the eccentricities of Davy's neighbors, and no one is better at portraying cantankerous seniors than Richard Peck.From the gruff Mr. Stonecypher with a still in his basement to Mrs. Titus, a scrawny woman in sackcloth who totes a shotgun, to Mrs. Titus's ninety-seven-year-old mother who still believes the Civil War is raging, they are all hugely entertaining and diverting.When Mrs. Titus is called upon to serve as a long-term substitute teacher in Davy's class, she takes on the class's unlikely bully, a round girl named Beverly with two equally large cronies.The bullies are no match for the elderly Mrs. Titus who puts a rattrap in her purse to catch their pilfering fingers.

Peck ingeniously blends seriousness and lightheartedness, the ordinary and the extraordinary.A highlight of the book is the Old Jalopy Parade, in which junk cars are paraded to the scrapyard.Davy rides high in Mrs. Titus's ancient Pan American.With a spine-tingling conclusion, this book is grand historical fiction.

I hate to spoil the party, but...
I grew tired of this book about halfway through and put it down.The prose is perfect, the imagery vivid, but nothing kept pulling me further into the book.I feel hesitant criticizing the award-winning author, but I can't imagine a middle school boy reading this book unless he had to, because nothing much really happens.

perfection on the page
Richard Peck is the best.He makes you want to turn the page for all the right reasons.Add this book to the long list of other great things RP has written.Bravo!

I laughed so hard, I nearly died!
(Listened to this book on CD) This book is a real gem.I rented some books on tape from my local library for a trip.This was the first one I popped in.I was rivited!! I laughed so hard....I thought I was gonna die.I even had to stop at a rest stop to use the mens room.While I was in there, the last scene of the story came to my mind and I began to laugh uncontrollably!.The man beside must have thought I was a real nut.This is truly a well written, well read book.I ended up listening to it over again...3 times.In fact I never even touched the other books I rented.I tried to listen to one other and almost immediately had to pop it out and put "Wings Of Heros" back in.I made my kids and wife listen to it.I love this book!I cannot highy reccommend it enough.The Charactors are priceless.It is one of the few books on tape that I would say is perfect!The scene where the boy is in school and they are having a practice air raid will leave you in stitches!The man who read this did such a good job, that I'm not sure I would have loved it as well as I do If I had read it myself.If you need a good laugh and love a good story and want to feel really good all over...do yourself a favor and rent or buy this book...then go for a 4 hour drive and enjoy!

Gods and monsters
Richard Peck is such an old-fashioned guy. Go through his books and look what you find. Nasty bullies getting their due. Pranks. Upright citizens. Heroes. Work that makes a boy strong. And wise old people who dole out necessary advice and make the rest of us look weak in comparison. It takes a couple heaping helpfuls of nostalgia to write a Richard Peck book, and as far as I can figure it, nostalgia falls into two distinct categories: Good Nostalgia and Bad Nostalgia. Bad Nostalgia bores the socks off its readers. It wallows too deeply in the idea of how great things used to be and would rather eat its own shoes than allow that there might be some pretty great things going on right now. Good Nostalgia's a different beast entirely. It conjures up the past, transplanting its readers to another time. A time where there was good and there was bad, but most of all there was just a world that wasn't too unlike our own. "On the Wings of Heroes" is rife with Good Nostalgia. It bears the flaws of its genre without apology, but is a pretty good book in the end anyway.

Everyone has to have a hero. For Davy it's his older brother Bill. It's World War II and Bill's off to fight in a handsome B-17, carrying with him his small town's good wishes. Life before and during the war couldn't be more different. Before the war Davy spent a lot of time with his best friend Scooter, trying out their new bikes, enjoying Halloween, and playing in the warm summer nights. During is different. Now the kids are doing regular collections for the war effort. Bill's been sent off to fight and Davy's avoiding the malevolent (not to say violent) Beverly C. while dealing with family worries to boot.With a great cast of kooky characters and superb writing, a book that could have been yet another dull historical novel distinguishes itself. A great slice from the past.

A co-worker of mine is a gigantic Richard Peck fan. She's read his books cover to cover and then back again. As such, she's probably his biggest critic. After going through "Heroes", she found she was not entirely impressed. Richard Peck lite, she called it. She even pointed out certain elements to me. The dirty bully girl in the book? Wasn't she in a couple of his stories before? Ditto the ancient teacher idea, the pranks, and even the Midwestern setting. To her eyes, he's done it all before and he's done it better. Be that as it may, I am not a fan of her caliber. I read A Long Way From Chicago and A Year Down Yonder and enjoyed them just fine. Then I read The Teacher's Funeral and Here Lies the Librarian and was disappointed. So for me, "On the Wings of Heroes" represents a return to form. Sure Peck is reusing some old tropes and techniques. Still, if you take the book in and of itself and don't compare it to his past or future work, I think it stands rather nicely all on its own. It may not garner the biggest awards out there, but there's no doubt in my mind that it'll have its fans.

Peck's writing makes the whole enterprise well worth a peek anyway. First of all, he's funny, which is of vast unrecognized importance. Like any kid assigned this in school, I actually wasn't too keen on reading, "On the Wings of Heroes." Historical fiction is fine and all but I shy away from it when I can. So it's nice to get sucked into novel, especially if it's against your will. The individual sentences get all evocative and suggestions are made of future events. For example, whenever Davy's father hears of an injustice or a wrong, we hear that, "something coiled in him again." That "something" never uncoils in this book, but I suspect that it probably happens long after this particular story is over.

Of course, Peck writes of a white white world. If you're looking for a little diversity, he's not your man. It doesn't usually occur to me when I read him, but this book in particular shows just how pale as newly fallen snow Peck's universe is. He doesn't deal with racism or social injustice much at all. So when the DAR gets a mention, it sticks out more for me than it might if there was a single African-American character living in this Midwestern American town. Those of you who would prefer to read a book with a little more racial complexity would do well to look to another novel.

Will kids read it? Not if you don't sell it to them. Look, if a kid is standing in front of a row of books and one book has the title, Alcatraz Versus The Evil Librarians and the other book reads, "On the Wings of Heroes" which book is the kid going to pick up first? I mean some will read this book and love it, no question. It sounds odd to say, but the book this reminded me the most of was Ray Bradbury's, Dandelion Wine. Know me and know my love of "Dandelion Wine" and you'll see how grand a compliment this really is. It doesn't have Bradbury's dark surreal undercurrents, of course, but there's a lot of joy here and a lot of familiar ideas. Plus, other books crop up in the old memory as well, like the moment when the root beer brewing in the basement explodes like a fourteen gun salute. It reminded me of nothing so much as the brewing that goes on in that great 30s novel, Cheaper by the Dozen]. Though it shouldn't be confused with an accurate representation of the past in all respects, there's a lot in Peck's novel to enjoy. It has the ability to make children nostalgic for a time they will never know. Recommended. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

"Brave Heart"
John R.Galvin is an excellent writer, extremely articulate in the processing of his work.His book is, far and away, the best historical accounting I have read thus far regarding the "pre-revolution" activity that steadily lay the foundation and provided the impetus for the "Few Good Men" who followed to seize on and run with.The "Forward" section of the book is especially noteworthy, since it touches on two very important complex talents, at least one element of which is (but not necessarily both) common within the makeup of all great men : Reason and Judgment.

I was interested in the James Otis aspect of it, and found the book after following a link from another reader quite by accident, since not enough has been written or can be located about this incredible man, wise beyond his time, brave beyond duty, acting in the best interests of others, without regard to his own safety or the dire circumstances awaiting the iconoclastic in that time of unrest.Fortunately, we of later generations had these few remarkable individuals at the right place in the right time, and have been waiting for their equal ever since - yet few have proven as worthy successors even after the "trail was blazed for them through uncharted territory" and successfully delivered to those who waited for history to catch up to them.The initial work was done, and done well, and this book strives to bring it to us.If anyone is interested in American History or the Revolution and it's masterminds, this book is a "must read" in order to properly identify the players in their proper places as the drama (and it was an incredible one)began to unfold against the travesties of the Crown and it's loyalist puppets who held the first, hard-fisted power over the new people.

One thing is crystal clear:Politics hasn't changed much.The biggest difference is that the Revolutionists had more to lose in a personal way should they be challenged or defeated. This book exposes that early day turmoil explicitly and brings 300 years past into the present with all the subterfuge, anger and power playing of today's political arena, but with much larger stakes riding on the outcome.

The powerful force of James Otis - the complex, focused, articulate man, driven by the courage of his convictions, aided by his brilliance, and a complete disregard for personal safety or the consequences of his unparalleled stand against the King of England, has been vastly underwritten in the annals of history.Why this should be so is a mystery of immense proportions and this is the reason this book is so important, due to it's remarkable clarity.It is quite clear, upon reading what has history has had to attribute to him, coupled with the remarks of esteemed men such as John Adams - what his powerful personality accomplished in a short period of time.It leaves little doubt of his importance, and in fact, reveal that he was the catalyst for the American Revolution with his denouncing of the "writs of assistance" (broad power search and seizure warrants), taking on through legal argument the hand-picked loyalists of the Crown who were thwarting their own laws, voicing opposition to rampant corruption; and the initiating of the open, public meetings at Fanueil Hall, where the public began to gather to speak their minds regardless of the "pleasure of the Crown". Thus also, the "freedom of speech" idea was also thrust into the waiting world.Once loosed, this phenomenon was impossible to reverse course, and the quest for liberty began to take root within the people who attended.

There seemed to be an underlying "personal reason" as well for his passion, and which truthfully may have provided the greater detenator for an already explosive situation:his father, James Otis SR. was snubbed for a high-ranking government positon, and the position filled by a less qualified individual, Thomas Hutchinson, who was more easily persuaded to support the interests of the British Government, no matter if it followed law or not, it would seem.From that point on, the clash of wills intensified, and no doubt the midnight oil was burned night and night again by Otis in his quest to rout out the nest of thieves, fueled by his own personal anger as well as his professional integrity.

John Adams himself was a remarkable man, attributing Mr. Otis with credit where there credit was due, rather than taking it for himself, truly something out of the ordinary for any Century.James Otis was not only the right man for the job, he held the position to best accomplish it - the legal profession.That such a man was alive at all, is, itself, a miracle.

All in all, "Three Men of Boston" is a most excellent historical read, never dull or boring, and the reader feels intimately the thrill that the people living at the time must have felt, but without the inherent danger to person and family, something we should all be grateful for, should continue to offer gratitude and pay tribute to these unique, brave individuals through the reading of their histories; the keeping alive of their memory and their remarkable deeds when there was nothing to be gained for them but death upon failure - or - freedom for the posterity upon success born of fire. We know what happened now, but at the time of trial, there must have been dark moments indeed behind the scenes - moments of indecision and despair -for these men who "gave birth to our Nation".

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in American History or those simply searching for inspiration within the world we live in now, since times haven't changed, only the people living them.

Solid research and fascinating intellectual inquiry
Author John R. Galvin explores the personalities of three key figures whose actions and discourses constituted the roots of the American Revolution.Galvin's admirable scholarly discipline and his keen analysis deserve praise. His scope is very precise:it begins and ends with the period where Hutchinson, Adams, and Otis were interacting.Readers interested in Hutchinson, Adams, or Otis should read this book to gain a deeper insight into their personal philosophies and into the political struggles and challenges which made or defeated them, and which ultimately constituted the unyielding backdrop of their social existence and historical judgement.Readers interested in mid-18th century Massachussetts or American politics will learn much about the many groups and organizations of the period.

Politics of Pre-revolutionary Boston
John Galvin guides the reader through Boston politics in the fifteen years preceding the Revolution, 1760-1775. Mr. Galvin focuses on the three men he contends were the most influential in the events in Boston in the pre-revolutionary years (Thomas Hutchinson, James Otis, and Samuel Adams).Very readable and a good source of behind-the-scenes activity that led to the beginning of the American Revolution. ... Read more