Revolution & Founding

There has never been a nation like the United States of America.Its impact on the world is unprecedented in all of human history. After two and a half centuries of existence, it is difficult to imagine what the world would be like without it.

The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic....

In this authoritative and engrossing full-scale biography, Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Einstein and Steve Jobs, shows how the most fascinating of America's founders helped define our national character. Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made...

This revelatory biography from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author explores the story of the most essential Founding Father—the one who stood behind the change that sparked the American Revolution. “A glorious book that is as entertaining as it is vitally important.” —Ron Chernow, #1 New...

In this lively book, Warren Throckmorton, coauthor of Getting Jefferson Right, investigates the gloss that Christian nationalist storytellers put on history and equips listeners to debunk seven myths that they propagate. Working in the tradition of muckraking journalists, Throckmorton picks a...

Part biography, part travelogue, part self-help, New York Times bestselling author Eric Weiner follows in the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin, mining his life for inspiration and practical lessons for living a purposeful and virtuous life. Ben Franklin lingers in our lives and in our imaginations...

In 1775 the American colonies were a hotbed of political discord. Many of the British policies, specifically taxes, had caused American colonial leaders to consider the unthinkable....

Heroes are hard to come by - but there's one man whose legend has stood the test of two centuries, and whose name sits on Australia's highest peak. Tadeusz Kosciuszko: freedom fighter, friend of Thomas Jefferson and champion of liberty on two continents. Bestselling author Anthony Sharwood finds...

Pulitzer Prize, History, 1993 Grand in scope, rigorous in its arguments, and elegantly synthesizing 30 years of scholarship, Gordon S. Wood's Pulitzer Prize–winning book analyzes the social, political, and economic consequences of 1776. In The Radicalism of the American Revolution, Wood...

The Years That Changed History: 1776 invites you to take a uniquely different look at the events of this famous year, in a brilliant and surprising excavation of world history.

Named a New York Times Notable Book, Empire of Liberty offers a marvelous account of this pivotal era in American history....

**One of AudioFile Magazine's Best Audiobooks of 2019** "The winning combination of George Newbern's engaging narration and Rick Atkinson's vivid new work of history--the first in a planned trilogy about the American Revolution--brings to life what could have been a dry account of Revolutionary...

“A vivid portrait…and thoughtful consideration of George Washington’s wisdom that couldn’t be timelier” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). A revealing look at the first President’s Farewell Address, a still-relevant warning against partisan politics and foreign entanglements. George...

Gore Vidal, winner of the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, is one of the great figures in American writing. Now through Vidal's extraordinary literary talents, the three men most responsible for the shaping of America come to life as never before. Volumes have been...

A New York Times bestseller and an “enriching…brilliant” (David W. Blight, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Frederick Douglass) examination of what “the pursuit of happiness” meant to our nation’s Founders and how that famous phrase defined their lives and became the foundation of...

Ranging from the earliest Native American settlers to the presidency of Barack Obama, this Very Short Introduction offers an illuminating account of politics, diplomacy, and war as well as the full spectrum of social, cultural, and scientific developments that shaped our country. Here is a...

In this compact audiobook, David L. Holmes offers a clear, concise and illuminating look at the spiritual beliefs of our founding fathers....

This program features an introduction read by Bill O'Reilly. The Revolutionary War as never told before. The breathtaking latest installment in Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard’s mega-bestselling Killing series transports listeners to the most important era in our nation’s history, the...

The #1 New York Times bestseller by Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important chapter in the American story that’s “as resonant today as ever” (The Wall Street Journal)—the settling of the Northwest Territory by courageous pioneers who overcame...

“Does Thomas Jefferson still matter?” ask two leading historians on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson has been reinvented more than perhaps any American president in history. In the nineteenth century, slavery’s defenders invoked Jefferson’s...

Originally published anonymously, The Federalist Papers first appeared in 1787 as a series of letters to New York newspapers exhorting voters to ratify the proposed Constitution of the United States....

From historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist H. W. Brands comes an inspiring portrait of George Washington that examines his unrivaled leadership in the birth of America. “With this masterly volume, Brands has further solidified his standing as one of our nation’s greatest historians. American...

From the author of The Apache Wars, the true story of the American West, revealing how American ambition clashed with the realities of violence and exploitation The epic of the American West became a tale of progress, redemption, and glorious conquest that came to shape the identity of a new...

From the award-winning historian and filmmakers of The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, The Roosevelts, and others: a human-centered history of America’s founding struggle—expanding on the landmark, six-part PBS series to be aired in November 2025 “From a small spark kindled in America, a flame...

A startling and eye-opening look into America’s First Family, Never Caught is the powerful story about a daring woman of “extraordinary grit” (The Philadelphia Inquirer). When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left behind his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in...

What if Thomas Paine could weigh in on today’s headlines? Thomas Paine Returns with Common Sense shows how the wisdom of America’s founders speaks directly to the crises of modern life. Consider today's headlines: Fentanyl takes thousands of young American livesThe U.S.

The year 1776 is undoubtedly iconic for Americans. After all, it is the year of the Declaration of Independence—the paradigm-shifting document that birthed a new vision of government and brought the United States into being. But the groundbreaking events of 1776 went far beyond the American Revolution. The Years That Changed History: 1776 invites you to take a uniquely different look at the events of this famous year, in a brilliant and surprising excavation of world history.

The United States was creeping ever closer to independence. The shot heard round the world still echoed in the ears of Parliament as impassioned revolutionaries took up arms for and against King and country. In this captivating blend of careful research and rich narrative, Derek W. Beck...

On America's 250th anniversary comes the story of our nation's fiercest ideological struggle—over the Declaration's true meaning—fought by the Founders, enslaved people, suffragists, civil rights leaders, and more, an enduring battle that has tested and reaffirmed the unifying principles of our democracy. As America celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the nation remains divided over the true meaning of its most resonant words—equality, liberty, and unalienable rights.

“My own mind is my own church.” - Thomas Paine The Age of Reason is one of the most inspirational demonstrations of religious criticism and Enlightenment thought. Paine advocates for reason and freethinking in the place of revelation, deftly employing common language, irreverent wit, and...

Stop the Revolution is the fascinating story surrounding the British effort to bring the American Revolution to a peaceful end. It details the fateful September 11, 1776, meeting on Staten Island between British Admiral Lord Richard Howe and Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge...

As the United States reaches its 250th anniversary, the country is preparing to spend another year retelling the official story: the Founding Fathers, the Civil War, the Greatest Generation, and the moon landing. But behind every famous moment stood millions of forgotten heroes—soldiers, spies, inventors, builders, mothers, immigrants, scientists, and ordinary citizens whose hidden stories shaped the nation alongside the names you already know. This is the celebration America has owed them for 250 years. Discover American history through the people who actually built it.

Join award-winning storyteller Darley Newman on a journey through American Revolution sites in national parks, great cities like Charleston and Princeton, and obscure haunts like a colonial tavern in Gettysburg. From lighthearted adventures like tasting Martha Washington's recipe for Cherry Bounce to an emotional trek with a military historian at Camden Battlefield, Revolutionary Road Trip catalogs oral histories, tales, and truths passed down by generations of guides, community members, and experts whose boots are on the ground at historic locations across the thirteen original colonies.

Using the participants’ own words, Jim Weiss brings to life the ideas, battles, and adventures of the men and women who created a free nation. Be there in the courtroom when John Adams takes an unpopular stand for justice by defending British soldiers accused of perpetrating the Boston...

The colonial church was critical in training the founding generation on biblical principles for governing justly. When England governed unjustly over a long period of time with no intention of changing course, the leaders of the Continental Congress confronted their civil authority. After many years trying to reconcile, they saw no other option but to follow the biblical template for starting a new nation. They drafted the Declaration of Independence, and God blessed their effort.