To Read: On the American Revolution

Luther Spoehr, Ph.D.

President, Barrington Preservation Society

This list of books about the history of the American Revolution is organized by category. Some books are aimed at general readers, some are written more for scholars, but all are accessible to both.  

The number of pages for each book includes footnotes, bibliographies, index, and the like. The actual text is often much shorter.

All books are still in print, most in paperback editions.

Within categories, books by the same author appear together, but an author can appear in more than one category. Authors are not entirely listed alphabetically, to encourage browsing.

Disclaimer: There is no assertion that these books are the absolute best or the only good ones available. In fact, discussing alternatives and preferences is just one of the things that should come out of this exercise. Enjoy!

Rhode Island and Rhode Islanders in the Revolutionary War

Rory Raven, Burning the Gaspee: Revolution in Rhode Island.  2012.  128 pages.

Terry Golway, Washington’s General: Nathanael Greene and the Triumph of the American Revolution.  2005. 355 pages.

Robert Geake, From Slaves to Soldiers: The 1st Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution.  2016.  184 pages.

John B. Hattendorf, The Battle of Rhode Island in 1778.  2021.  75 pages.

Christian McBurney, The Rhode Island Campaign: The First French and American Operation in the Revolutionary War.  2011.  400 pages.

Christian McBurney, Spies in Revolutionary Rhode Island.  2014.  160 pages.

Charles Rappleye, Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, the Slave Trade, and the American Revolution.  2006.  424 pages.

Website: smallstatebighistory.com. Contains essays, book reviews, etc., with an entire section dedicated to the Revolution in RI.

Episodes on the Way to Revolution

Edmund S. Morgan and Helen M. Morgan, The Stamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution. Originally published in 1953, the 1995 edition is still in print.  A classic.

Hiller B. Zobel, The Boston Massacre.  1970.  372 pages.

Benjamin L. Carp, Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America.  2010.  328 pages.

The Declaration of Independence and Other Ideas

Walter Isaacson, The Greatest Sentence Ever Written.  2025.  80 pages.  Short, to-the-point, written especially for 2026.  

Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution.  1967.  432 pages. Pulitzer Prize winner.  Tremendously influential book about the role of ideas that sparked independence.

Jack N. Rakove, The Annotated U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.  2009.  368 pages.  A Pulitzer Prize winner’s guide to two essential documents, specifically aimed at the general reader.

Pauline S. Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence.1997.  304 pages.  How it was written, how it was forgotten and revived.

Garry Wills, Inventing America: Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.  1978.  398 pages.  Idiosyncratic, but invariably interesting and enjoyable to read.

Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution: How a Revolution Transformed a Monarchical Society into a Democratic One Unlike Any That Had Ever Existed.  1991.  447 pages.  Pulitzer Prize Winner.  The role of ideas again. One of those books that all scholars must take seriously if they are to be taken seriously themselves.

Surveys of the Period

Edmund S. Morgan, The Birth of the Republic, 1763-1789.  1956.  240 pages.  A classic.  First published in 1956, it’s still in print 70 years later.  Fourth edition (published in 2012) contains an essay by Joseph Ellis.

Joseph J. Ellis, The Cause: The American Revolution and Its Discontents, 1773-1783.  2021.  400 pages.  If you don’t read Morgan, read this.  Better yet, read both.

Alan Taylor, American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804.  2017.  704 pages.  Not just the British vs. the Americans, but multiple empires, including indigenous ones, clashing over more than 5 decades.  A lot to take in, but it will give you a whole new perspective.

Michael D. Hattem, The Memory of ’76: The Revolution in American History.  2024.  352 pages.  How the Revolution has been portrayed over the generations.  (Ours is hardly the only fraught time for commemoration.  There was never a consensus on what the Revolution means.)  

Biographies by Joseph J. Ellis (yes, he gets his own category: his books are well written, accessible, and not overwhelmingly long)

Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams.  1993.  368 pages.

American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson. 1998.  464 pages.  National Book Award winner.

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation.  2000.  304 pages.  Pulitzer Prize Winner.  Study of Hamilton, Burr, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Adams, and Madison.

His Excellency: George Washington.  2004.  352 pages.

The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution,1783-1789.  2015.  320 pages.  Studies of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison.

The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding.  240 pages. 2025.

Other Biographies, Arranged by Subject:

Ron Chernow, Washington: A Life.  2010.  904 pages.  Pulitzer Prize winner.  It’s all here, if you’ve got the stamina for it.

Edward G. Lengel, Inventing George Washington: America’s Founder, in Myth and Memory.  2011.  249 pages.  

Garry Wills, Cincinnatus: George Washington and the Enlightenment, Images of Power in Early America.  1984.  272 pages.  Classical roots of Washington’s Character.

Henry Wiencek, An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. 2003.  404 pages.

Jon Meacham, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power.  2013.  800 pages.  A full biography, which follows him all the way to his death on July 4, 1826.  But a very fine book.

Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.  2008.  800 pages.  Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner.  An utterly remarkable book about Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, their complex relationship and their complicated world. Thoughtful, evidence-based, careful to distinguish between what we can know for sure and what we can’t, and, oh yes, beautifully written besides.  Can’t say enough good things about this book.

David McCullough, John Adams.  2002.  752 pages.  Pulitzer Prize winner.  As readable a biography as you will ever encounter.

Stacy Schiff, A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America.  2005.  484 pages.  Very accessible, close-up view of an important episode.

Edmund S. Morgan, Benjamin Franklin.  2002.  339 pages.  Written in Morgan’s characteristically concise and precise style.  

Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life.  2004.  586 pages.  Isaacson is always reliable.

Gordon S. Wood, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin.  2004.  320 pages.  Not a full-scale biography, but a well-crafted exposition of a particular theme.

Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton.  2004.  818 pages.  Another doorstop of a book, but it’s really good.  Then you’ll be ready for the musical.  There’s an abridged version of the audio book available, too.

Military History

David Hackett Fischer, Paul Revere’s Ride.  1994. 443 pages.  How it really happened, what it meant, and why he didn’t shout “The British are coming.”

David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing.  2004.  564 pages.  Battle of Trenton and much more.

David McCullough, 1776.  2006.  386 pages.  Washington’s great escapes and reversals, the Declaration: a busy year.

Nathaniel Philbrick, Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution.  2013.  416 pages.  The first volume of a three-volume trilogy.  Outstanding narrative.

Nathaniel Philbrick, Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the American Revolution.  2016.  448 pages.  The second volume.

Nathaniel Philbrick, In the Hurricane’s Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown.  2018.  384 pages.  And the third, in which Washington shows what he had learned.

Rick Atkinson, The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777.  2019.  800 pages.  The first of a planned trilogy by a historian best known for his massively researched narratives of World War II.  

Rick Atkinson, The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780.  880 pages.  And the second volume.  The third is still to come.

Michael Stephenson, Patriot Battles: How the War of Independence Was Fought.  2007.  421 pages.  Weaponry (muskets, bayonets, cannon) and tactics, and more.  What military units had to do to survive and win.  Not excessively technical, and consistently clear.

Tories / Loyalists

Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy, The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution and the Fate of the Empire.  2013.  497 pages.  

H.W. Brands, Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution.  2021.  496 pages.

Maya Jasanoff, Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World.  2011.  480 pages.  The diaspora of the Tories, all over the world.

Gregg L. Frazer, God Against the Revolution: The Loyalist Clergy’s Case Against the American Revolution.  2020.  280 pages.

Bernard Bailyn, The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson.  1975.  464 pages.  National Book Award winner. 

Luther Spoehr is Senior Lecturer Emeritus at Brown University.  He has written over 300 reviews of books on American history, including over 100 for the Providence Journal (back when it had a “Books” section).