"A solid chunk of scholarship, likely to endure as a classical work on its subject." —Time Magazine "[T]hrough these individual battles, rather than through a general strategic survey, the reader literally goes through this war, an exciting experience for those who are easy chair generals or who want to refresh or fill in their knowledge of the Revolution." —Kirkus Reviews From the first crack of musket fire at Lexington and Concord to the downing of the British colors at Yorktown, Christopher Ward does not tell the whole history of the American Revolution, but rather, illuminates the history of the war caused by that revolution—the military operations on land in the War for Independence. When The War for the Revolution was first published almost sixty years ago, it was instantly recognized as a modern classic of American historical scholarship, as well as a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction Revolutionary War history. Today it is probably the most cited single work on the American Revolutionary War. The combination of a simple format and eloquent writing make The War of the Revolution an ideal reference for the professional historian and American history buff alike. Now available in one complete volume totaling more than 1,000 pages, readers have the opportunity to purchase the entire masterpiece and relive each battle through Ward's powerful descriptions. Hear the gunshots, know the soldiers, and experience the terrain and military tactics as the troops did with this classic account, still unmatched so many decades later—The War of the Revolution.

A lavishly illustrated essay collection that looks through a global lens at the American Revolution and re-positions it as the real 1st world war “Every American should read this marvelous book.” —Douglas Brinkley, author of Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America From acts of resistance like the Boston Tea Party to the "shot heard 'round the world," the American Revolutionary War stands as a symbol of freedom and democracy the world over for many people. But contrary to popular opinion, this was not just a simple battle for independence in which the American colonists waged a "David versus Goliath" fight to overthrow their British rulers. In over a dozen incisive pieces from leading historians, the American struggle for liberty and independence re-emerges instead as a part of larger skirmishes between Britain and Europe’s global superpowers—Spain, France, and the Dutch Republic. Amid these ongoing conflicts, Britain's focus was often pulled away from the war in America as it fought to preserve its more lucrative colonial interests in the Caribbean and India. With fascinating sidebars throughout and over 110 full-color images featuring military portraiture, historical documents, plus campaign and territorial maps, this fuller picture of one of the first global struggles for power offers a completely new understanding of the American Revolution.

In a minute-by-minute account, this popular book gives a vivid picture of what actually happened on April 19, 1775. "Tourtellot's book is the best account we have of the day of Lexington and Concord. The actions of each individual who played a conspicuous part in the day's work are minutely traced but Mr. Tourtellot never loses the main thread of his narrative and the wealth of detail he has included gives substance and color to an exciting story."— J. C. Miller, New York Herald Tribune Book Review "Tourtellot does not let his 19th of April float up in the spring air unconnected with a past or a future. He has built in very skillfully the story of the months before that day and then sends its echoes rolling on through time—and into distant states and nations....No other book generally available performs an even remotely comparable job....Makes full use of old material, adds a good deal that has come to light in the intervening years and, standing firmly on its own base, presents magnificently for the general reader and the specialist this immortal opening chapter of our beginnings as a nation."—Bruce Lancaster, The Saturday Review "The result of thoughtful examination of the evidence and clear writing."—Walter Muir Whitehill, New England Quarterly "An absorbing and vital history, containing much newly published information about a crucial week in the history of the United States. "—J.M. Goodsell, Christian Science Monitor

"A fast-paced, often riveting account of the military and political events leading up to the Declaration of Independence and those that followed during the war ... Brands does his readers a service by reminding them that division, as much as unity, is central to the founding of our nation."—The Washington Post From best-selling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist H. W. Brands comes a gripping, page-turning narrative of the American Revolution that shows it to be more than a fight against the British: it was also a violent battle among neighbors forced to choose sides, Loyalist or Patriot. What causes people to forsake their country and take arms against it? What prompts their neighbors, hardly distinguishable in station or success, to defend that country against the rebels? That is the question H. W. Brands answers in his powerful new history of the American Revolution. George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were the unlikeliest of rebels. Washington in the 1770s stood at the apex of Virginia society. Franklin was more successful still, having risen from humble origins to world fame. John Adams might have seemed a more obvious candidate for rebellion, being of cantankerous temperament. Even so, he revered the law. Yet all three men became rebels against the British Empire that fostered their success. Others in the same circle of family and friends chose differently. William Franklin might have been expected to join his father, Benjamin, in rebellion but remained loyal to the British. So did Thomas Hutchinson, a royal governor and friend of the Franklins, and Joseph Galloway, an early challenger to the Crown. They soon heard themselves denounced as traitors--for not having betrayed the country where they grew up. Native Americans and the enslaved were also forced to choose sides as civil war broke out around them. After the Revolution, the Patriots were cast as heroes and founding fathers while the Loyalists were relegated to bit parts best forgotten. Our First Civil War reminds us that before America could win its revolution against Britain, the Patriots had to win a bitter civil war against family, neighbors, and friends.

"Wars don't unfold event-by-event or even battle-by-battle. They unfold day-by-day. Activities are underway simultaneously across the theater of operations, some significant and some minor, but their sum shows how the war progresses. Pyne's book [The War of the American Revolution: Day by Day] portrays that reality for the American Revolutionary War-progress in time as the participants would have experienced it."-Dave R. Palmer, Lieutenant General (USA, Ret.), author, television presenter, former superintendent of the United States Military Academy (USMA). "The War of the American Revolution: Day by Day, compiled by Frederick W. Pyne, will make a substantial contribution to the literature on the War of Independence. It will be of use to scholars, but it should find an especially receptive audience among general readers with an interest in the Revolutionary War. Readers will have a veritable encyclopedia of the war in their hands. They can consult this treasure trove of information to discover what occurred on any given day between the outbreak of the war at Lexington-Concord in April 1775 and General Washington's retirement to Mount Vernon near the end of 1783. Readers will also be able to see the ebb and flow of the war. As with no other book, readers will be aware of just how long this war must have seemed to contemporaries. Finally, readers will grasp that this was an extremely difficult war and that victory was elusive until literally the last moment."-John Ferling, professor, author of Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence. Numerous illustrations, maps, a glossary, a bibliography, appendices, and an index to full names, places and subjects enhance this exceptional work.

The American war against British imperial rule (1775-1783) was the world's first great popular revolution. Ideologically defined by the colonists' formal Declaration of Independence in 1776, the struggle has taken on something of a mythic character. From the Boston Tea Party to Paul Revere's ride to raise the countryside of New England against the march of the Redcoats; and from the American travails of Bunker Hill (1775) to the final humiliation of the British at Yorktown (1781), the entire contest is now emblematic of American national identity. Stephen Conway shows that, beyond mythology, this was more than just a local conflict: rather a titanic struggle between France and Britain. The Thirteen Colonies were merely one frontline of an extended theatre of operations, with each superpower aiming to deliver the knockout blow. This bold new history recognizes the war as the Revolution but situates it on the wider, global canvas of European warfare.