Book Publication
Press Release
Publication: Historical Fiction Novel: The Mock Court Martial of British General Sir William Howe.
Author: Roy Cini Cusumano (aka Rudy Cusumano) roy1202c@aol.com
Where: Available online at Amazon.com and bookstores like Barnes and Noble.
The court martial format of teaching American Revolutionary War history is Cusumano’s response to America’s greatest prize winning historian David McCullough, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, who stated that “We are raising children in America today who are by and large historically illiterate.” Although he refers to students’ knowledge about American history, the fact that in a recent study US students ranked 25th among 34 countries in math and science is a warning that supports Mr. McCullough about our defective academic curriculums. The author therefore offers this tribunal method of instruction as the most effective way to improve our literacy about the War of Independence to benefit students in middle schools, junior and senior high schools, and universities. The advantages are obvious as interest level increases when conflict, the essence of drama, is expressed through the dialogue of each character in the story. Emotions are produced by behavior of witnesses all of whom react from direct and cross examinations. Each witness/judge advocate exam session could be separated as chapters and acted separately on a stage by student reenactors for any organization or adult audiences including senior citizen groups during day or evening performances in school auditoriums. There is no better way to make our children educated.
The court martial of General Sir William Howe, Commander in Chief of the British military complex, provides a dramatic ordeal displayed as a riveting, fast paced trial which should have occurred in 1778 at London. Facing a death sentence by firing squad, Sir William is haunted by his flawed military campaigns at Long Island, Brandywine, Barren Hill, and Valley Forge.
The trial exposes England’s best kept secret of the American Rebellion concocted by General Howe because of his failure to win the war at Valley Forge on May 20, 1778. The parade of superstar witnesses is impressive: General Howe followed by his four, senior ranking generals outfoxed by the 20-year-old “boy” General Lafayette who devised a masterful escape from the clutches of a British and Hessian trap at the cemetery of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church at Barren Hill. The novel contains battle maps of the escape. In addition, testimonies from witnesses Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Oneida Indian scout Hawkeye unsheathe their rhetorical knives drawn to strike at England’s tyranny of the monarchies.
Witnesses cite evidence not only of Howe’s military failures but also his embarrassing life styles such as perjury, adultery, and culture of secrecy. Finally, the trial shows why all teachers’ lesson plans relevant to American history should aggressively celebrate the brilliant accomplishments of the world’s greatest military commander and statesman of all time. George Washington has been our lost hero for too long--he deserves the same enthusiastic respect we give to our heroes in baseball, basketball, football, ice hockey, and all other sports included in the Olympic Games. On battlefields and at Valley Forge, General George Washington had already surpassed physical and mental challenges far superior than those that confronted the greatest athletes. He dodged musket fire and cannon fire on the front lines of battle where he led his men in combat at the risk of his life. The novel provides secondary school children opportunities each day to look upon this example of a titan who has shaped their lives with guarantees of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Our Founding Father deserves the greatest recognition.
Author Roy Cini Cusumano, Norristown Area Hall of Fame Revolutionary War historian inducted in 2006, was born in Philadelphia but lived mainly in Norristown and Lansdale, Pennsylvania nearby Valley Forge. He was educated at West Chester State College of Pennsylvania, Spring Garden College in Philadelphia, and Villanova University with studies in English and American history, literature, and mathematics, subjects he taught for 38 years as a classroom teacher. He lives presently with his wife Diane at North Wales, Pennsylvania.
