Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams?

This lively biography, by Newbery Honor-winning author Jean Fritz, is a nice, personal look at a leader and his times.

In early America, when all the men wore ruffled shirts and rode grandly on horseback, one man refused to follow suit. He was the rebel leader Sam Adams, a plainspoken gent who scorned ruffles, refused to ride a horse, and had little regard for the King.