Read the Revolution

A curated collection of thought-provoking books about the American Revolution.

Featured Books

The Overflowing of Friendship

Read an excerpt from Richard Godbeer's book, The Overflowing of Friendship: Love Between Men and the Creation of the American Republic.

Prisoners of Congress

Read an excerpt from Norman E. Donoghue II's book, Prisoners of Congress: Philadelphia’s Quakers in Exile, 1777-1778.

Freedom's Prophet

Read an excerpt from Richard S. Newman's book, Freedom’s Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers.

Give Me a Fast Ship

Read an excerpt from Tim McGrath's book, Give Me a Fast Ship: The Continental Navy and America's Revolution at Sea.

The Cutting-Off Way

Read an excerpt from Wayne E. Lee's new book, The Cutting-Off Way: Indigenous Warfare in Eastern North America, 1500–1800.

Image 100223 Rtr251 Overflowing Of Friendship Godbeer Cover

Cover for Norman Donoghue's book Prisoner's of Congress which features a blue illustration of the top of Independence Hall atop the book title in blue over a beige background.

Book cover for Freedom's Prophet by Richard Newman featuring a large scale portrait of Bishop Richard Allen.

Book cover for Tim McGrath's book Give Me a Fast Ship featuring the title in black text over a goldish brown background with stars and a painting of naval ships.

Book cover for Wayne Lee's The Cutting-Off Way.

About

Curated by Museum staff since 2013, Read the Revolution features excerpts from thought-provoking books about the American Revolution. Read the Revolution was created with thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. Subscribe to get the biweekly Read the Revolution featured excerpts emailed right to your inbox for free.

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Speaker Series

Inspired by the Read the Revolution featured excerpts, the Read the Revolution Speaker Series brings celebrated authors and historians to the Museum for lively, facilitated discussions of their work. Each Read the Revolution Speaker Series program, hosted by Museum President & CEO Dr. R. Scott Stephenson, includes a special talk and audience Q&A.

About the Series

All Books

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Children & Young Adults

Summer 2019 Reading List

Posted: June 26, 2019

View our list of 2019 Summer Reading Books about the American Revolutionary War to share stories of history with children of all ages!

Children & Young Adults

Never Caught

Posted: January 23, 2019

Read an excerpt from Dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve's young reader adaptation of the story of runaway slave Ona Judge.

Hamilton and Peggy! A Revolutionary Friendship book cover

Children & Young Adults

Summer 2018 Reading List

Posted: July 25, 2018

View our list of 2018 Summer Reading Books about the American Revolutionary War to share stories of history with children of all ages!

Children & Young Adults

I Survived the American Revolution

Posted: January 10, 2018

Read an excerpt from Lauren Tarshis's children's book of a young boy's courage as he and the Continental Army prepare for the Battle of Brooklyn.

This image depicts the book cover of American Cake by Anne Byrn. The book cover shows a white frosted cake with pink rose petals on top. The cake sits on a white cake stand with more petals surrounding the right side of the stand. Below this image is the title of the book. Below the title of the book are three smaller photographs of cakes dated 1770, 1903, and 1963.

History

Double Feature: Gingerbread

Posted: November 22, 2017

Read these excerpts featuring Colonial recipes along with tempting and intriguing stories about our early American culinary history.

Image 101520 Rtr 2017 Summer Reading List Kids

Children & Young Adults

Summer 2017 Reading List

Posted: July 12, 2017

Check out the 45 titles featured in our summer 2017 reading list for children and young adults.

History

Forged in Philadelphia

Posted: November 18, 2015

Read an excerpt from Rebecca Eckfeldt Gibby's children's book where she uncovers the history of her Revolutionary-era ancestor from Philadelphia.

Children & Young Adults

Chains

Posted: September 10, 2013

Read an excerpt from Laurie Halse Anderson's young adult novel that tells the story of a young slave girl during the start of the Revolutionary War.

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