Humanity Life

𝘌𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘹𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯.

The story of the American Revolution has long been framed as a quest for political and economic liberty. But historian Eric Metaxas argues there is a profound undercurrent to this story that is frequently overlooked.

In “Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World,” Metaxas views the conflict through the spectrum of a culture war. According to the author, the Atlantic Ocean wasn’t the only thing separating Britain and its American colonies. Indeed, the cultural differences grew so severe that it became impossible for those starkly different worlds to coexist.

𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲

Metaxas begins his tale in a manner that feels closer in spirit to Mel Brooks than David McCullough. He flippantly recalls the abrupt death in 1760 of the aged King George II after relieving himself following the ingestion of a laxative. The monarch’s heir was his 22-year-old grandson, who took the name George III. He was ill-advised and ill-prepared to deal with the disaster that awaited him.

Metaxas points out there was always a degree of tension between the British establishment and its American subjects. After all, the colonies were settled by Britons seeking to escape religious and political intolerance.

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𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 ‘𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺,’ 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 20𝘵𝘩-𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦.

Twelve-year-old August Vollmer boarded a train with his mother, Philippine. They were moving to San Francisco. New Orleans’s police chief had just been murdered by mobsters. Crime, however, was not the motivating factor for moving from Louisiana’s major port city.

Philippine’s health had been deteriorating for several years after she was forced to take over the family grocery store following her husband’s death. She had finally succumbed to selling the business and moving the family to a better climate. Interestingly, the wife of the deceased police chief was aboard the same train. There was no way for Vollmer to know it, but he was heading straight toward a lifetime of policing. In fact, he would become arguably America’s most important law enforcement officer.

August Vollmer’s (1876–1955) arrival in California not only ended his time in Louisiana, but also ended his formal education. In 1888, with the family now in a new town and a mother whose health restricted her capacity to work, Vollmer was forced to take up employment. He worked for a firm in San Francisco for several years, though he had his sights set on opening his own business.

Despite his educational shortcomings, he was a voracious reader and consistently sought ways to learn. He attended lectures at the local university, frequented the library, requested reading recommendations from local professors, and maintained a stance of being a lifelong learner.

Vollmer established a strong network of friends in San Francisco and in Berkeley, where the family moved in 1890. As a teenager, he and his friends hunted, fished, sailed, and camped. He and a friend agreed to form a business partnership, and together they opened a fuel and feed store, which became quite successful. During this period, he also helped found the North Berkeley Fire Department.

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