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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 201–210 of 252 items
This image depicts the book cover of The Gun, The Ship, and The Pen by Linda Colley. The text of the title is written in large blue letters. There is an illustration, pictures vertically on the left side of the book cover. It shows a sailor, with his back to the viewer, looking out at a ship on fire in the sea.

The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen

Posted: May 12, 2021
Read an excerpt from historian Linda Colley's new book, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern World.
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Image 091820 Rtr179 Hemingses Monticello Annette Gordon Reed Screen Shot 2020 09 18 At 1131 56 Am

The Hemingses of Monticello

Posted: September 23, 2020
Read an excerpt from Annette Gordon-Reed's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.
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Book cover for The Howe Dynasty by Julie Flavell

The Howe Dynasty

Posted: January 12, 2022
Read an excerpt from Julie Flavell's book, The Howe Dynasty: The Untold Story of a Military Family and the Women Behind Britain’s Wars for America.
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Image 090920 Rtr178 Ideological Origins American Revolution Bailyn

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

Posted: September 09, 2020
Read an excerpt from Bernard Bailyn's The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution.
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 Rtr The Indian World Of George Washington

The Indian World of George Washington

Posted: October 24, 2018
This excerpt from Colin Calloway shows George Washington’s initial lack of understanding of Native allies and their impact on the nation’s founding
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The Internal Enemy Book Cover

The Internal Enemy

Posted: September 14, 2016
This excerpt from Alan Taylor examines the complex subject of slavery in a state dedicated to liberty and freedom, yet enslaved two-fifths of the population
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Cover of The Journal of Charlotte L. Forten featuring a photograph of an older Charlotte.

The Journal of Charlotte L. Forten

Posted: March 08, 2023
Read an excerpt from The Journal of Charlotte L. Forten, edited by Ray Allen Billington.
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The King's Three Faces Book Cover

The King's Three Faces

Posted: October 26, 2016
This excerpt from Brendan McConville discusses the physical and symbolic destruction of objects associated with the British Monarchy.
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The Last King Of America by Andrew Roberts

The Last King of America

Posted: May 25, 2022
Read an excerpt from Andrew Roberts' book, The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of King George III.
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This image shows the book cover of The Last Muster: Images of the Revolutionary War Generation by Maureen Taylor. The background is a deep, brown and the title of the book is written in white at the top. On the bottom is Maureen’s name, also written in white. In the center are four framed photographs of older people from the Revolutionary generation.

The Last Muster

Posted: November 11, 2015
Read this excerpt from Maureen Taylor’s book that complied over 50 19th-century photographs and shares biographical information for each person.
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