The American Revolution did not just happen. It was the culmination of two centuries of Enlightenment ideas that entered men's minds and were refined and honed until they expressed themselves in an unprecedented rejection of tyranny in the name of individual rights and political freedom from the whims of arrogant monarchs and conniving, power-lusting politicians. Sparrowhawk: Book Two, Hugh Kenrick encapsulates that process in the story of a young British aristocrat who rejects the tyranny of the British Crown and joins the Society of the Pippin, a club of thinkers who question the received wisdom of their age. By the end of his story, young Hugh Kenrick is sent to Virginia out of harm's way, and by the end of the Sparrowhawk series, thirty years later, he will play a crucial role in the American fight for independence.