Ray raphael biography paintings

American historian

Ray Raphael (born April 19, 1943) is an American historian and author of twenty books. He is noted for his work on the American Revolution, the Constitution, and the regional history of Northern California.

American Revolution

In 2001, Raphael's People's History of the American Revolution synthesized the "bottom-up" history that grabbed the attention of scholars in the field since the 1960s. Howard Zinn, author of People's History of the United States, endorsed the book and used it to initiate his "People's History" series, published by The New Press.

While both Raphael and Zinn view common people as significant historical agents, Zinn's focus is decidedly more political, focusing on dissent and protest, while Raphael deals with everyday experiences as well as interesting social movements.^[1]

In 2002, in The First American Revolution, Raphael chronicled the overthrow of British authority in the hinterlands of Massachusetts i