Read the Revolution

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

Featured Books

Black Jacks

Read an excerpt from W. Jeffrey Bolster's book, Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail.

Liberty's Daughters

Read an excerpt from Mary Beth Norton's groundbreaking book, Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750-1800.

Summer Reading List: 2023 Young Readers Edition

See our summer reading list of Revolutionary books that will encourage young readers to explore the past and the people who shaped it.

A Gentleman of Color

Read an excerpt from Julie Winch's groundbreaking book, A Gentleman of Color: The Life of James Forten.

The Grimkes

Read an excerpt from Kerri K. Greenidge's book, The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family.

Cover of W. Jeffrey Bolster's book Black Jacks.

Image 091520 1776x2652 Libertysdaughters

A collection of books featured in the Museum's 2023 summer reading list for young readers.

The Grimkes by Kerri Greenidge Book book cover.

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

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.

Double Feature Ten Crucial Days Read the Revolution book Covers

History

Double Feature: Countdown to the 10 Crucial Days

Posted: December 15, 2021

Read excerpts from William Kidder's Ten Crucial Days: Washington’s Vision for Victory Unfolds and Lynne Cheney's When Washington Crossed the Delaware: A Wintertime Story for Young Patriots.

Book covers for First Martyr of Liberty and The Remarkable Cause.

Children & Young Adults

Double Feature: First Martyr of Liberty and The Remarkable Cause

Posted: February 22, 2023

Read excerpts from Mitch Kachun's First Martyr of Liberty: Crispus Attucks in American Memory and Jean O'Connor's The Remarkable Cause: A Novel of James Lovell and the Crucible of the Revolution.

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.

Children & Young Adults

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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