The War Of The American Revolution

A lavishly illustrated essay collection that looks through a global lens at the American Revolution and re-positions it as the real 1st world war “Every American should read this marvelous book.” —Douglas Brinkley, author of Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America From acts of resistance like the Boston Tea Party to the "shot heard 'round the world," the American Revolutionary War stands as a symbol of freedom and democracy the world over for many people. But contrary to popular opinion, this was not just a simple battle for independence in which the American colonists waged a "David versus Goliath" fight to overthrow their British rulers. In over a dozen incisive pieces from leading historians, the American struggle for liberty and independence re-emerges instead as a part of larger skirmishes between Britain and Europe’s global superpowers—Spain, France, and the Dutch Republic. Amid these ongoing conflicts, Britain's focus was often pulled away from the war in America as it fought to preserve its more lucrative colonial interests in the Caribbean and India. With fascinating sidebars throughout and over 110 full-color images featuring military portraiture, historical documents, plus campaign and territorial maps, this fuller picture of one of the first global struggles for power offers a completely new understanding of the American Revolution.

Winner of the George Washington Prize Winner of the Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize in American History Winner of the Excellence in American History Book Award Winner of the Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award From the bestselling author of the Liberation Trilogy comes the extraordinary first volume of his new trilogy about the American Revolution Rick Atkinson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army at Dawn and two other superb books about World War II, has long been admired for his deeply researched, stunningly vivid narrative histories. Now he turns his attention to a new war, and in the initial volume of the Revolution Trilogy he recounts the first twenty-one months of America’s violent war for independence. From the battles at Lexington and Concord in spring 1775 to those at Trenton and Princeton in winter 1777, American militiamen and then the ragged Continental Army take on the world’s most formidable fighting force. It is a gripping saga alive with astonishing characters: Henry Knox, the former bookseller with an uncanny understanding of artillery; Nathanael Greene, the blue-eyed bumpkin who becomes a brilliant battle captain; Benjamin Franklin, the self-made man who proves to be the wiliest of diplomats; George Washington, the commander in chief who learns the difficult art of leadership when the war seems all but lost. The story is also told from the British perspective, making the mortal conflict between the redcoats and the rebels all the more compelling. Full of riveting details and untold stories, The British Are Coming is a tale of heroes and knaves, of sacrifice and blunder, of redemption and profound suffering. Rick Atkinson has given stirring new life to the first act of our country’s creation drama.

The War for Independence touched virtually every American. It promised liberty, the opportunity for a better life, and the excitement of the battlefield. It also brought disappointment, misery, and mourning. In this collection of original essays that highlight the variety and richness of recent research, eleven leading historians investigate the diverse experiences of Americans from North to South, from coast to backcountry, from white townsfolk to African American slaves. Revolutionary ideology may have inspired some soldiers in the Continental Army, but as the case studies in this volume document, the men of New England also weighed family commitments, economic concerns, and local politics when deciding whether or not to enlist in the militia. Slaves joined the army believing the war would bring them personal freedom while women served as auxiliaries or as camp followers. Those left behind defended the homefront--unless the war took their homes and made them refugees. On the frontier, politically astute Native Americans weighed the relative advantages to themselves before deciding to support the patriots or the Crown. By bringing together the perspectives of soldiers, women, African Americans, and American Indians, War and Society in the American Revolution gives readers a fuller sense of the meaning of this historical moment. At the same time, these essays show that instead of unifying Americans, the war actually exacerbated social divisions, leaving unresolved the inequalities and tensions that would continue to trouble the new nation.

Kids love stories about underdogs, and the American Revolution is among the most famous of these tales. Desperate to be an independent country free from Britain, the rebel colonists relied on their cunning wit and visionary leadership to win an impossible war. And then they faced the real hardship—creating a country out of a victorious but chaotic society. Using engaging text, hands-on activities, and links to primary sources, The American Revolution: Experience the Battle for Independence shows readers how rebel soldiers fought in horrific conditions while their families faced their own hardships for the sake of freedom. Students examine wartime propaganda to discover the truth about events leading up to the war, and engage in vibrant debate, strategic planning, and literary deconstruction to understand the official documents upon which America is founded. Building a marshmallow cannon and creating real colonial food are some of the projects that engage readers’ design skills. Essential questions require readers to activate their critical thinking skills to discover the truth about the most important moment in American history. The American Revolution meets Common Core State Standards for literacy in history and social studies; Guided Reading Levels and Lexile measurements indicate grade level and text complexity.

"Wars don't unfold event-by-event or even battle-by-battle. They unfold day-by-day. Activities are underway simultaneously across the theater of operations, some significant and some minor, but their sum shows how the war progresses. Pyne's book [The War of the American Revolution: Day by Day] portrays that reality for the American Revolutionary War-progress in time as the participants would have experienced it."-Dave R. Palmer, Lieutenant General (USA, Ret.), author, television presenter, former superintendent of the United States Military Academy (USMA). "The War of the American Revolution: Day by Day, compiled by Frederick W. Pyne, will make a substantial contribution to the literature on the War of Independence. It will be of use to scholars, but it should find an especially receptive audience among general readers with an interest in the Revolutionary War. Readers will have a veritable encyclopedia of the war in their hands. They can consult this treasure trove of information to discover what occurred on any given day between the outbreak of the war at Lexington-Concord in April 1775 and General Washington's retirement to Mount Vernon near the end of 1783. Readers will also be able to see the ebb and flow of the war. As with no other book, readers will be aware of just how long this war must have seemed to contemporaries. Finally, readers will grasp that this was an extremely difficult war and that victory was elusive until literally the last moment."-John Ferling, professor, author of Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence. Numerous illustrations, maps, a glossary, a bibliography, appendices, and an index to full names, places and subjects enhance this exceptional work.

An important new interpretation of the American colonists' 150-year struggle to achieve independence "What do we mean by the Revolution?" John Adams asked Thomas Jefferson in 1815. "The war? That was no part of the Revolution. It was only an effect and consequence of it." As the distinguished historian Thomas P. Slaughter shows in this landmark book, the long process of revolution reached back more than a century before 1776, and it touched on virtually every aspect of the colonies' laws, commerce, social structures, religious sentiments, family ties, and political interests. And Slaughter's comprehensive work makes clear that the British who chose to go to North America chafed under imperial rule from the start, vigorously disputing many of the colonies' founding charters. When the British said the Americans were typically "independent," they meant to disparage them as lawless and disloyal. But the Americans insisted on their moral courage and political principles, and regarded their independence as a great virtue, as they regarded their love of freedom and their loyalty to local institutions. Over the years, their struggles to define this independence took many forms, and Slaughter's compelling narrative takes us from New England and Nova Scotia to New York and Pennsylvania, and south to the Carolinas, as colonists resisted unsympathetic royal governors, smuggled to evade British duties on imported goods (tea was only one of many), and, eventually, began to organize for armed uprisings. Britain, especially after its victories over France in the 1750s, was eager to crush these rebellions, but the Americans' opposition only intensified, as did dark conspiracy theories about their enemies—whether British, Native American, or French.In Independence, Slaughter resets and clarifies the terms in which we may understand this remarkable evolution, showing how and why a critical mass of colonists determined that they could not be both independent and subject to the British Crown. By 1775–76, they had become revolutionaries—going to war only reluctantly, as a last-ditch means to preserve the independence that they cherished as a birthright.