Let me caution in strictest terms against

publishing what I write. The nation is

not ready to face the truth about itself

that an honest story of the Revolution

must mirror.

Fifty years later, a New Jersey doctor

thus recalls the great event of his life-the

upheaval that created the United States

of America. His honest story unflinchingly

depicts the panic and cowardice, the

greed and brutality that were part of the

war for independence. It also celebrates

the Americans who fought this evil under-

tow and struggled to cope with the chaos

of a war most of them never wanted. At

the center of the drama are Liberty

Tavern, on the main road between Perth

Amboy and Philadelphia, and its enig-

matic owner, Jonathan Gifford, ex-eaptain

of the King s Own Regiment. For him the

Revolution is an outburst of dangerous

wildness he senses and fears in the Amer-

ican character. But he cannot escape it.

The only two people whom he l~ves, his

stepson Kemble and stepdaughter Kate,

are passionately involved in it, on oppo-

site sidey. Then an extraordinary woman,