Read the Revolution

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

Featured Books

Brothers in Liberty

Read an excerpt from Phillip Thomas Tucker's book, Brothers in Liberty: The Forgotten Story of the Free Black Haitians Who Fought for American Independence.

Female Genius

Read an excerpt from Mary Sarah Bilder's book, Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution.

King Hancock

Read an excerpt from Brooke Barbier's book, King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father.

The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley

Read an excerpt from David Waldstreicher's book, The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence.

Death or Liberty

Read an excerpt from Douglas Egerton's book, Death or Liberty: African Americans in the Revolutionary War.

Book cover for Brothers in Liberty features the book title in yellow on a red background in the middle of the cover with the subtitle right below in white.

Book cover for Female Genius written in a wavy font across the bottom third features Columbia holding the American flag.

Book cover for King Hancock book featuring a large portrait of John Hancock's face with the title King Hancock in gold and Hancock written in his famous signature.

Cover for David Waldstreicher's book The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley with the book title and author name in bold black font against an orange background with a colorized version of Phillis Wheatley's portrait in the center.

The book cover of Death or Liberty by Douglas Egerton featuring John Singleton Copley's painting depicting Black Loyalist Boston King.

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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History

Tacky's Revolt

Posted: February 12, 2020

Read an excerpt from Vincent Brown's book, Tacky's Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War

History

The American Crisis

Posted: December 23, 2015

Read an excerpt from Thomas Paine's collected writings, including the first in his pamphlet series published on December 19, 1776.

History

The American Plate

Posted: March 10, 2015

Read this excerpt from Libby O'Connell's The American Plate about the role patriotism played in leading us towards our now ubiquitous coffee culture.

History

The American Revolution

Posted: October 08, 2013

Read this excerpt of a letter by Benedict Arnold 'to the Inhabitants of America' that reveals the ideological shift he experienced over the course of war.

History

The American Revolution

Posted: August 26, 2014

This excerpt from Gordon Wood shows how the ideals of 'republicanism' influenced the governments being formed at the start of the Revolutionary War.

History

The American Revolution: A Historical Guidebook

Posted: October 21, 2014

This excerpt from Frances H. Kennedy describes more than 100 landmarks from the American Revolution in the chronology of their importance to the war.

History

The Battle for the Fourteenth Colony

Posted: January 14, 2014

This excerpt from Mark Anderson reveals the beginnings of the Quebec Campaign when colonists were trying to bring Canada into the Continental confederation

Book cover for The Blind African Slave, Jeffrey Brace's Memoir, originally published in 1810 and Edited By Kari Winter

Biography & Memoir

The Blind African Slave (originally 1810)

Posted: February 09, 2022

Read an excerpt from Kari Winter's 2004 edited edition of The Blind African Slave: Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nicknamed Jeffrey Brace by Jeffrey Brace as told to Benjamin F. Prentiss, Esq. (1810).

History

The Boston Massacre

Posted: March 11, 2020

Read an excerpt of Serena Zabin's The Boston Massacre: A Family History.

History

The British Are Coming

Posted: December 22, 2021

Read an excerpt from Rick Atkinson's book, The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777.

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