American Revolution Books


Best Overview of the American colonies to date:

    Alan TaylorAmerican Colonies: The Settlement of North America  


A landmark work that greatly affected the historiography of the war:

    Gordon Wood:  The Radicalism of the American Revolution (first published 1992)


Overviews of the Revolutionary era: 

    Robert Middlekauf:  The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution (1763- 1786)
 
        The first book in the Oxford History of the United States series (3rd before Battle Cry of Freedom)

    John Ferling:  A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic

       Stresses contingency & experimental approach of the founders (always guessing what they should do next) 😀

    Alan Taylor:  American Revolutions: A Continental History of the United States: 1750-1804)

       Recent, 2021, highly praised, I haven't read it yet.  The same Alan Taylor as above.

    Joanne Freeman25 YouTube videos of a Yale professor's undergrad course on the American Revolution 


Pre-war Books:

    Fred Anderson:  Crucible of War: The 7 Years' War & the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766

    Brendan McConville:  The Three Faces of the King: The Rise and Fall of Royal America, 1688. 1776 


Post War Books: The U.S. Constitution and more:

    Gordon Wood:  Empire of Liberty: The Early Republic (1789 - 1815)

        The second book in the Oxford History of the United States. The same Gordon Wood as above)

    Stanley Elkins & Eric McKitrick:  The Age of Federalism  

    Joseph EllisFounding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation 

         Ellis' American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson is my favorite Jefferson biography.

    Pauline MayerAmerican Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence  

    Pauline Mayer (again):  Ratification:  The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788 

    Saul Cornell:  The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America, 1788-1828 

         Anti-Federalists were those who opposed the proposed Constitution and the Federalist Papers

Antebellum History Overview (1815-1848): 

    Daniel Walker Howe:  What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America (1815-1848)  

         The third book in the Oxford History of the United States series (the one before Battle Cry of Freedom)



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