Showing titles in Revolution & Founding

At first, neither George Washington nor the Continental Congress approved of enlisting African Americans in the new army. Nevertheless, Black men—both slave and free—filled the ranks and served in all of the early battles. Black sailors also saw action in every major naval battle of the Revolution, including members of John Paul Jones's crew aboard the Bonhomme Richard. At least thirteen Black Americans served in the newly formed US Marine Corps during the war.

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...

The heroic story of the founding of the US Navy during the Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of America's first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that truly revealed the new nation's character. In Rebels at Sea, Eric Jay Dolin corrects that significant omission, and contends that privateers, as they were called, were in fact critical to the American victory. Privateers were privately owned vessels that were granted permission by the new government to seize British merchantmen and men of war.

Though he was a great statesman, one of America's founding fathers, and the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson suffered from depression. In Jefferson's Demons, Michael Knox Beran examines episodes of melancholia in Jefferson's life. In particular, he focuses on the journey Jefferson made to Europe in 1787 to escape the depression that set in due to his tumultuous experience as governor of Virginia following the Revolution and his wife Martha's death.

In this major new history of the Continental Army's Grand Forage of 1778, award-winning military historian Ricardo A. Herrera uncovers what daily life was like for soldiers during the darkest days of the American Revolution: the Valley Forge winter. Here, the army launched its largest and riskiest operation—not a bloody battle against British forces but a campaign to feed itself and prevent starvation or dispersal during the long encampment. Herrera brings to light the army's herculean efforts to feed itself, support local and Continental governments, and challenge the British Army.

During the years of the Early Republic, prominent Native leaders regularly traveled to American cities primarily on diplomatic or trade business, but also from curiosity. They were frequently referred to as "the Chiefs now in this city" during their visits. Colin Calloway has gathered together the accounts of these visits and created a new narrative of the country's formative years, redefining what has been understood as the "frontier." Calloway captures what Native peoples observed as they walked the streets, sat in pews, attended plays, drank in taverns, and slept in hotels.

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior, and psychologists are actively involved in studying and understanding mental processes, including brain functions, and behavior. In fact, the field of psychology is considered a "Hub Science" with strong connections to the medical sciences, social sciences, and education. Human nature is a related concept but nevertheless a bit different, as it denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally.

In 1784, Thomas Jefferson was a broken man. Reeling from the loss of his wife and stung from a political scandal during the Revolutionary war, he needed to remake himself. Wandering through Europe, Jefferson saw and learned as much as he could, ultimately bringing his knowledge home to a young America. There, he would rise to power and shape a nation. More than two hundred years later, Derek Baxter, a devotee of American history, stumbles on an obscure travel guide written by Jefferson—Hints for Americans Traveling Through Europe—as he's going through his own personal crisis. 

In this instant New York Times bestseller, America’s top historians set the record straight on the most pernicious myths about our nation’s past “Outstanding… Wonderfully accessible.” —Washington Post The United States is in the grip of a crisis of bad history. Distortions of the...

The urgent need to honor the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence came to Douglas MacKinnon, fittingly enough, on the Fourth of July. While doing research for a column meant to remind the American people of that date’s critical importance, he came across example after example of those from the left and the far left—be they in the mainstream media, activists, or anarchists—calling for not only the “canceling” of the Fourth of July, but the continued smearing, censorship, and canceling of our Founding Fathers.

George Washington came to be known as father of his country. In his role as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, George Washington defeated the British in the American Revolution and established the United States of America. Through his extraordinary military leadership, he guaranteed that the American Republic would move forward in its revolutionary experiment. So how was Washington able to win this seemingly unwinnable war? This compelling 15-lecture audio course answers this and many more questions about one of the most foundational figures in American history.

In 1776, the United States of America was born from a document that declared all men created equal and free to choose who they serve in this world. What followed was a difficult fight against a monarchy, a fight that ended with the creation of a powerful country built on the tenets of freedom and equality. These documents are some of the foundational writings from the earliest days of the country that have shaped the United States government for centuries.

 The half century extending from the imperial crisis between Britain and its colonies in the 1760s to the early decades of the new republic of the United States was the greatest and most creative era of constitutionalism in American history, and perhaps in the world. During these decades, Americans explored and debated all aspects of politics and constitutionalism - the nature of power, liberty, representation, rights, the division of authority between different spheres of government, sovereignty, judicial authority, and written constitutions.  

Get a “fresh perspective on the American Revolution” as an award-winning author reveals the true story of two young women who defied their Loyalist families to marry radical patriots, Henry Knox and Benedict Arnold (Shelf Awareness). When Peggy Shippen, the celebrated blonde belle of...

On September 17, 1787, at the State House in Philadelphia, 39 men from 12 states, after months of often bitter debate, signed America's Constitution. Yet very few of the delegates, at the start, had had any intention of creating a nation that would last. Most were driven more by pragmatic, regional interests than by idealistic vision. Lawrence Goldstone chronicles the forging of the Constitution through the prism of the crucial compromises made by men consumed with the needs of the slave economy. 

In Cords of Affection: Constructing Constitutional Union in Early American History Emily Pears investigates efforts by the founding generation's leadership to construct and strengthen political attachments in and among the citizens of the new republic. These emotional connections between citizens and their institutions were critical to the success of the new nation.  

An intellectual biography of James Madison, arguing that he invented American politics as we know it  How do you solve a problem like James Madison? The fourth president is one of the most confounding figures in early American history; his political trajectory seems almost intentionally...

Gold Winner of the 2008 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award, Biography Category Brings to life the inspiring story of one of America's Black Founding Fathers, featured in the documentary The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song Freedom's Prophet is a long-overdue biography of...

 Revolutionary Surgeons offers an integrated picture of surgeons as political and military leaders of the American Revolution.   

George Washington spent more of his working life farming than he did at war or in political office. For more than 40 years, he devoted himself to the improvement of agriculture. Washington at the Plow depicts the "first farmer of America" as a leading practitioner of the New Husbandry, a transatlantic movement that spearheaded advancements in crop rotation.