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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

Showing 21–30 of 44 items
This image depicts the book cover of James Monroe: A Life by Tim McGrath. James Monroe is written in red, while A Life and Tim’s name is written in white. The cover is a portrait of James Monroe in a black jacket. His body is turned off to his left looking in the same direction.

James Monroe

Posted: April 28, 2021
Read an excerpt from Tim McGrath's book, James Monroe: A Life.
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This image depicts the book cover of Masquerade: The Life and Times of Deborah Sampson, Continental Soldier by Alfred F. Young. The background is a pale yellow. There are images of eight continental soldiers. The middle soldier is the largest and is colored pink. The other soldiers surround this one in varies positions and are colored blue.

Masquerade

Posted: April 06, 2021
Read an excerpt from late historian Alfred F. Young's book, Masquerade: The Life and Times of Deborah Sampson, Continental Soldier.
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Image 120420 Rtr184 Henry Knox Cannons

Double Feature: Henry Knox's Winter Adventure

Posted: December 09, 2020
Read excerpts from Don Brown's Henry and the Cannons: An Extraordinary True Story of the American Revolution as well as Phillip Hamilton's The Revolutionary War Lives and Letters of Lucy and Henry Knox.
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Image 101320 Rtr163 Brumwell Turncoat Cover

Turncoat

Posted: January 22, 2020
Read an excerpt from Stephen Brumwell's Turncoat: Benedict Arnold and the Crisis of American Liberty.
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British Soldiers American War

British Soldiers, American War

Posted: December 11, 2019
Read an excerpt from Don Hagist's book, British Soldiers, American War: Voices of the American Revolution.
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A Fool's Errand book cover

A Fool's Errand

Posted: October 09, 2019
This excerpt of Lonnie Bunch intertwines his personal experiences with the long road that led to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
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Rush book cover

Rush

Posted: July 10, 2019
Read an excerpt from Stephen Fried's biography of Dr. Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence and surgeon-general in the Continental Army.
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Image 10012020 Sally Wisters Journal

Sally Wister's Journal

Posted: September 12, 2018
This excerpt from Sally Wister's journal begins as the British marched towards Philadelphia and she fretted over the uncertainty of her place in the war
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A Hessian Diary of the American Revolution Book Cover

A Hessian Diary of the American Revolution

Posted: February 22, 2017
This excerpt includes a journal entry of a young Hessian soldier during the month of July 1781, the summer before the surrender at Yorktown.
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The Swamp Fox Book Cover

The Swamp Fox

Posted: February 08, 2017
Read an excerpt from John Oller's biography on Francis Marion, that seeks to unpack and debunk some of the myths on the "Swamp Fox" of the Revolutionary War
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