Ray Raphael facts for kids

Ray Raphael, born on April 19, 1943, is an American historian and author. He has written many books, especially about the American Revolution, the United States Constitution, and the history of Northern California.

Exploring the American Revolution

Ray Raphael is well-known for his unique way of looking at history. He often focuses on the experiences of everyday people, not just famous leaders.

A People's View of the Revolution

In 2001, Raphael wrote A People's History of the American Revolution. This book looked at the Revolution from the perspective of ordinary people. It showed how their actions were important in shaping history. Another famous historian, Howard Zinn, liked this book so much that he used it to start his own "People's History" book series.

The First American Revolution: Before the War

In 2002, Raphael's book The First American Revolution explored events that happened in Massachusetts in 1774. This was a year before the famous battles of Lexington and Concord. He showed how people in Massachusetts took control from British officials. For example, in the town of Worcester, thousands of local fighters made British-appointed officials resign publicly. These events, which are often overlooked, show that American patriots had already started taking power before the war officially began. Raphael argued that the British march on Lexington and Concord was actually an attempt to get back control of a province that Americans had already largely taken over.

Uncovering Founding Myths

Raphael noticed that some important events from 1774 were missing from history books. This led him to study how national stories are created. In 2004, his book Founding Myths looked at popular stories about the American Revolution, like Paul Revere's Ride or the Winter at Valley Forge. He showed how some of these tales changed over time, especially in the 1800s, to fit a growing sense of national pride.

Founders: Everyone Played a Part

In 2009, Raphael wrote Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation. This book combined his "bottom-up" approach (focusing on ordinary people) with the traditional stories of famous leaders. He included stories of both well-known figures like General George Washington and less famous people like Private Joseph Plumb Martin. He showed that many different kinds of people helped create the United States.

Understanding the U.S. Constitution

Ray Raphael also wrote several books about the United States Constitution.

How the President Was Created

His book President: How and Why the Founders Created a Chief Executive (2012) explained how the idea of a president came about. He also wrote Constitutional Myths: What We Get Wrong and How to Get It Right (2013), which cleared up common misunderstandings about the Constitution.

The Citizen's Guide to the Constitution

In 2016, Raphael published The U. S. Constitution: The Citizen's Annotated Edition. This book helps readers understand the Constitution section by section. It explains what the people who wrote it intended, how it was understood back then, and how it is interpreted today. He helps make the old language of the Constitution easier to understand for people today. Raphael has also helped create online lessons where students can act as delegates to the Constitutional Convention and debate important issues.

Early Books and Local History

Ray Raphael's first books focused on the history and local issues of Northern California, where he has lived since the late 1960s.

Stories from Northern California

His book An Everyday History of Somewhere (1974) was based on interviews with older residents. It mixed stories about nature with human history and won an award. He also explored local concerns like land development and the timber industry in books like Edges: Human Ecology of the Backcountry and Tree Talk: The People and Politics of Timber. In 2007, he co-wrote Two Peoples, One Place, which looked at conflicts between white settlers and Native Americans in Northwest California in the mid-1800s.

Other Interesting Topics

Raphael has also written about other topics. He explored male coming-of-age traditions in The Men from the Boys. He wrote about teachers' careers in The Teachers' Voice. With his son Neil, he even wrote a mystery book for young readers called Comic Cops. He also wrote a play about historical figures John and Jessie Freemont.

Working with Other Historians

Ray Raphael has also worked as an editor, helping to put together collections of writings by other historians.

In 2006, he edited a special issue of Forum magazine about the Founders, which included articles by many well-known scholars. In 2011, he co-edited Revolutionary Founders: Rebels, Radicals, and Reformer in the Making of the Nation. This book featured essays by 22 different historians. He is currently an associate editor for the Journal of the American Revolution.

About Ray Raphael's Life

Ray Raphael was born in New York City. After high school, he moved west. He earned degrees from Reed College and the University of California at Berkeley.

Early Activism and Influences

In the 1960s, he was involved in the Civil Rights Movement. He spent time in North Carolina helping Black citizens register to vote and integrate public places. He also participated in the "Freedom Summer" in Mississippi in 1964. His experiences during this time influenced his writing style, making him focus on the stories of ordinary people and their impact on history.

Life in Northern California

Raphael settled in a rural area of Northern California, where he raised two sons with his wife, Marie. Marie's brother, Robert Guillemin, is a famous street artist known as Sidewalk Sam. His art, which focuses on everyday life, is similar to how Raphael approaches history. Since he was 50, Raphael has enjoyed whitewater kayaking as a hobby.

For 15 years, Raphael taught almost all subjects at a small public high school in his remote neighborhood. He also taught at Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods.

Published Books

• An Everyday History of Somewhere (1974)
• Edges: Human Ecology of the Backcountry (1976)
• Tree Talk: The People and Politics of Timber (1981)
• Cash Crop: An American Dream? (1985)
• The Teachers' Voice: A Sense of Who We Are (1985)
• The Men from the Boys: Rites of Passage in Male America (1988)
• (With Neil Raphael) Comic Cops (1992)
• Little White Father: Redick McKee on the California Frontier (1993)
• More Tree Talk: The People, Politics, and Economics of Timber (1994)
• A People's History of the American Revolution (2001)
• The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord (2002)
• Founding Myths: Stories that Hide our Patriotic Past (2004)
• (With Freeman House) Two Peoples, One Place (2007)
• Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation (2009)
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Founding Fathers and the Birth of Our Nation (2011)
• (Edited with Alfred F. Young and Gary B. Nash) Revolutionary Founders: Rebels, Radicals, and Reformer in the Making of the Nation (2011)
• Mr. President: How and Why the Founders Created a Chief Executive (2012)
• Constitutional Myths: What We Get Wrong and How To Get It Right (2013)
• Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past Tenth Anniversary Edition, Revised and Expanded (2014)
• (With Marie Raphael) The Spirit of’74: How the American Revolution Began (2015)
• The U.S. Constitution: The Citizen’s Annotated Edition (2016)
• Hamilton: Founding Father (2017)
• I Like It Here: Life Stories of Humboldt's Bob McKee (2022)

Ray Raphael's books have been published in the United Kingdom and translated into German, Portuguese, and Korean.