YOUNG, Alfred F. Masquerade; the life and times of Deborah Sampson, Continental soldier. Random House, Vintage. 417p. illus. notes, index, c2004. 0-679-76185-3. $16.00. SA

Stories of women disguising themselves in men's clothing and running away to war are as old as warfare itself, and many of them are true. One such incident happened during the American Revolution when the famed Deborah Sampson did, in fact, enlist in a Massachusetts infantry regiment in 1782 and served on active duty as "Robert Shurtliff" before being discovered and discharged. Her case soon attracted public interest and, for the day, widespread media attention. It was at this point, then as now, that dramatic embellishments began to add color to the strictly factual record. And it is here that author Alfred Young performs his real service, gently but firmly separating the dramatic from the real. Heaven knows that Deborah's story was genuine enough, and admirable in its own right, but imaginative friends and eager writers soon transformed the doughty 23-year-old woman into a "lively comely young nymph" of 19 years. The other purported details can readily be found among the pages of any romance novel: the brave waif enlisting in order to escape a loveless arranged marriage. Deborah Sampson's real story stands well enough on its own, however, and Young does her full justice. No fanciful claim about the woman escapes his scrutiny, yet the book is more than a simple debunking of a popular tale. The author does a fine job of putting Sampson's life and times into historical perspective. Raymond Puffer, Ph.D., Historian, Edwards AFB, Lancaster, CA

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