Part Memoir. Part History. Part Travelogue.
Part Love Letter to the State of New Jersey.
On a late summer day in 2009, Al Frazza began a journey of exploration. His goal — to visit, research, and photograph hundreds of New Jersey Revolutionary War historic sites. While thoroughly exploring the physical landscape of his home state, he encounters a history that is often heart-breaking, sometimes uplifting, but always interesting.
Working alone, with no prior training as a historian, and no financial backing, his life slowly becomes dominated by the project. Increasingly unsure if and when he will ever complete his journey, he moves ever onward in his 1994 Oldsmobile. Ultimately, he explores nearly 650 historic locations, and creates the popular RevolutionaryWarNewJersey.com website.
State of Revolution: My Seven-and-a-Half-Year Journey Through Revolutionary War New Jersey tells the story of Al’s journey in his own words, including some humorous experiences he had along the way. It also describes the New Jersey experiences of famous figures such as George Washington and Ben Franklin, as well as ordinary New Jersey residents whose lives, farms, and homes stood in the midst of a war zone.
Told in short chapters that flow from one topic to another, the book moves at a brisk pace. State of Revolution creates a unique reading experience that will keep you engaged. You might even find yourself inspired to go out and explore the history around you — wherever you may live.
State of Revolution: My Seven-and-a-Half-Year Journey Through Revolutionary War New Jersey contains all new material written specially for the book; it does not reprint text from this website.
The book is a very different experience than the website. While the Revolutionary War New Jersey website is a very detail-heavy field guide, the book tells a much more personal, informal story. To contribute to the personal style Al was going for, he did not use a computer in the writing of the book. It was written entirely on a vintage manual typewriter that has been in his family since the late 1940’s.
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