Showing titles in Revolution & Founding

"With impressive scholarly sleuthing and a storyteller's eloquence, Danielle Allen has written a landmark book about the people and the ideas that changed the world. By bringing the glamorous Duke of Richmond back to life, Allen paints a panoramic portrait of how principles of human equality and...

For over 230 years, American schoolchildren have been taught about the story of Nathan Hale, or at least a legend of it, and in the process the myth of Hale and his apocryphal final words have immortalized the young man as America's most famous spy, despite his failed mission.

Thomas Jefferson praised Tom Paine as the greatest political writer of the age. The author of Common Sense and Rights of Man, Paine helped make revolutions in America and France. But beyond his inspiring calls to action, Paine harbored a deeper political vision for his adopted country. It was embodied in an architectural project that he spent decades planning: an iron bridge to span the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia.

Common Sense (1776) is Thomas Paine’s powerful call for American independence. Written in clear, direct language, it challenges monarchy and hereditary rule, urging colonists to embrace liberty and equality. Paine argues that society is a blessing, but government —even at its best —is a necessary evil. His pamphlet transformed hesitation into revolution, inspiring the birth of a nation founded on freedom and reason.

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was an 18th-century French inventor, famed playwright, and upstart near-aristocrat in the court of King Louis XVI. In 1776, he conceived an audacious plan to send aid to the American rebels. What's more, he convinced the king to bankroll the project, and singlehandedly carried it out. By war's end, he had supplied Washington's army with most of its weapons and powder, though he was never paid or acknowledged by the United States. To some, he was a dashing hero - a towering intellect who saved the American Revolution. To others, he was pure rogue.

This enthralling book is the first to uncover the story of New York City merchants who engaged in forbidden trade with the enemy before and during the Seven Years’ War. Ignoring British prohibitions designed to end North America’s wartime trade with the French, New York’s merchant elite conducted a thriving business in the French West Indies, insisting that their behavior was protected by long practice and British commercial law. But the government in London viewed it as treachery, and its subsequent efforts to discipline North American commerce inflamed the colonists.

A concise new history of the United States revealing that crises -- not unlike those of the present day -- have determined our nation's course from the start In A Nation Forged by Crisis, historian Jay Sexton contends that our national narrative is not one of halting yet inevitable progress, but...

Leading scholars define the special contributions and qualifications of our first president Washington's legacy is a successful experiment in collective leadership, great initiatives in establishing a strong executive branch and the formulation of innovative and lasting economic and foreign...

A comprehensive look at the brutal wilderness war that secured America's independence… With Musket and Tomahawk is a vivid account of the American and British struggles in the sprawling wilderness region of the northeast during the Revolutionary War. Combining strategic, tactical, and personal detail, this book describes how the patriots of the recently organized Northern Army defeated England's massive onslaught of 1777, thereby all but ensuring America's independence.

In July of 1781, an American privateer sailing out of New London, Connecticut, captured the British merchantman the Hanna, loaded with a bounty of luxury goods destined for British officers based in New York City. That action induced the British supreme leader of British forces in America to grant permission to the infamous traitor Benedict Arnold to lead an 1,800-man punitive amphibious expedition to destroy the American privateer base in New London. 

Like most legends, the origins of Freemasonry are still disputed to this day. The earliest mention of the society traces back to The Halliwell Manuscript, or Regius Poem, authored sometime between the late 14th and the early 15th centuries. The Society of Freemasonry is one of the most controversial brotherhoods in the history of mankind. This book examines the origins and history of the controversial brotherhood, its expansion across the globe, and some of the most mindboggling conspiracy theories that surround the society to this day.

George Washington claimed that anyone who attempted to provide an accurate account of the war for independence would be accused of writing fiction. At the time, no one called it the “American Revolution”: Former colonists still regarded themselves as Virginians or Pennsylvanians, not Americans, while John Adams insisted that the British were the real revolutionaries, for attempting to impose radical change without their colonists’ consent. With The Cause, Ellis takes a fresh look at the events between 1773 and 1783.

Bloomsbury presents War Without Mercy: Liberty or Death in the American Revolution by Mark Edward Lender and James Kirby Martin, read by Jason Keller. Drawing on vivid contemporary accounts, this is a fascinating exploration of how and why the Revolutionary War descended into a brutal...

Margaret Corbin was an early woman warrior who broke gender barriers to assist the Continental Army. Despite devastating losses and physical wounds, she persevered in defending Fort Washington in one of the first battles of the Revolutionary War. Her courage under fire and willingness to take up arms earned her the nickname "Captain Molly" and a lasting place in history as a revolutionary hero.

Even as the young United States successfully secured its independence, the new nation was beset by problems. The drafters of the Articles of Confederation had deliberately avoided giving the national legislature the power to tax, because Parliament had so abused that authority against the colonies, but this proved to be a severe limitation on the national government.

“An engrossing look at the human side of Benjamin Franklin . . . Using a post-feminist lens that’s critical of gender essentialism, Stuart rescues these women from obscurity . . . This is a terrific read: poignant, provocative, and probing.” —Library Journal, Starred Review A vivid...

Henry Lee III - whose nickname, "Light-Horse," came from his legendary exploits with mounted troops and skill in the saddle - was a dashing cavalry commander and hero of America's War for Independence. By now most Americans have forgotten about Light-Horse Harry Lee, the father of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, but this new biography reveals he may be one of the most fascinating figures in our nation's history. A daring military commander, Lee was also an early American statesman whose passionate argument in favor of national unity helped ratify the Constitution.  

Most people know the importance of the Declaration of Independence, but few know much about its signers. This reprint of an 1848 original provides a brief biography on each of the 56 signers of the Declaration. Learn the virtues of these venerated Americans who helped create the most stable and enviable nation in the world.

Most Americans are familiar with John Hancock solely because of his famous signature, and his name has become a slang phrase for signing a document. But his conspicuous signature on the Declaration of Independence has overshadowed the various and important contributions Hancock made in colonial Boston before the revolution, the Continental Congress during the revolution, and Massachusetts state politics after the revolution.

“...a gripping narrative that offers a revelatory perspective on the combined origins of two nations...compelling drama and instructive history.” -- Wall Street Journal In a narrative both panoramic and intimate, Tom Chaffin captures the four-decade friendship of Thomas Jefferson and the...