Read the Revolution

This excerpt from Joseph Ellis explains how the success of the Battle of Long Island came from the combined result of lucky breaks for the Americans.

This excerpt from Peter Thompson highlights the changing culture surrounding taverns and political life on the eve of the American Revolution

Read an excerpt from Karen Cook Bell's book, Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America.

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.

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

Read an excerpt from Richard Ketchum's Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War.

This excerpt from author Holger Hoock examines the moral dilemmas posed by the all-pervasive violence of the American Revolutionary War.

This excerpt from Sarah Purcell argues shared experiences of the Revolutionary War offered Americans an opportunity to create a sense of national identity

Read an excerpt from Owen S. Ireland's book, Sentiments of a British-American Woman: Esther DeBerdt Reed and the American Revolution.

Read an excerpt from Clare A. Lyons' book, Sex Among the Rabble: An Intimate History of Gender & Power in the Age Revolution, Philadelphia, 1730-1830.