Warren Roberts . A Place in History: Albany in the Age of Revolution, 1775–1825 . Albany, N.Y.: Excelsior Editions. 2010. Pp. xx, 335. $29.95.

Abstract

It is tempting to categorize this book as a local history, but it goes beyond that, sometimes offering surprisingly new insight, sometimes digressing into irrelevance. The endnotes give the impression that the research is neither broad nor deep. Most of the sources are secondary. Neither local newspapers nor manuscript sources are directly cited. The impression is not helped by reading the opening pages. For example, the author refers to “the Age of Democratic Revolution” (p. xv), but R. R. Palmer is not mentioned until page 73. Warren Roberts places the volume within the historiographical context of his own work, and the reader is left with the impression that this book is a professional epitaph. The book is bracketed by a bicycle/walking tour of Albany that appears unnecessary and self‐indulgent but is apparently intended to appeal to the general reader. Two homes and families offer a recurring motif: Schuyler Mansion, built by Philip Schuyler, and Van Rensselaer Hall, constructed by Stephen Van Rensselaer II and III. These people are among the “connecting link[s] between the American Revolution and French Revolution” (p. xiv).