1774: The Long Year of Revolution


Mary Beth Norton - 2020
     Drawing extensively on pamphlets, newspapers, and personal correspondence, Norton reconstructs colonial political discourse as it happened, showing the vigorous campaign mounted by conservatives criticizing congressional actions. But by then it was too late. In early 1775, governors throughout the colonies informed colonial officials in London that they were unable to thwart the increasing power of the committees and their allied provincial congresses. Although the Declaration of Independence would not be formally adopted until July 1776, Americans, even before the outbreak of war in April 1775, had in effect "declared independence" by obeying the decrees of their new provincial governments rather than colonial officials.

Franklin & Washington: The Founding Partnership


Edward J. Larson - 2020
    Wood From the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian comes a masterful, first-of-its-kind dual biography of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, illuminating their partnership's enduring importance. NATIONAL BESTSELLER • One of Washington Post's "10 Books to Read in February" • One of USA Today’s “Must-Read Books" of Winter 2020  •  One of Publishers Weekly's "Top Ten" Spring 2020 Memoirs/BiographiesTheirs was a three-decade-long bond that, more than any other pairing, would forge the United States. Vastly different men, Benjamin Franklin—an abolitionist freethinker from the urban north—and George Washington—a slavehold­ing general from the agrarian south—were the indispensable authors of American independence and the two key partners in the attempt to craft a more perfect union at the Constitutional Convention, held in Franklin’s Philadelphia and presided over by Washington. And yet their teamwork has been little remarked upon in the centuries since.Illuminating Franklin and Washington’s relationship with striking new detail and energy, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Edward J. Larson shows that theirs was truly an intimate working friendship that amplified the talents of each for collective advancement of the American project.After long sup­porting British rule, both Franklin and Washington became key early proponents of inde­pendence. Their friendship gained historical significance during the American Revolution, when Franklin led America’s diplomatic mission in Europe (securing money and an alliance with France) and Washington commanded the Continental Army. Victory required both of these efforts to succeed, and success, in turn, required their mutual coordination and cooperation. In the 1780s, the two sought to strengthen the union, leading to the framing and ratification of the Constitution, the founding document that bears their stamp.Franklin and Washington—the two most revered figures in the early republic—staked their lives and fortunes on the American experiment in liberty and were committed to its preservation. Today the United States is the world’s great super­power, and yet we also wrestle with the government Franklin and Washington created more than two centuries ago—the power of the executive branch, the principle of checks and balances, the electoral college—as well as the wounds of their compromise over slavery. Now, as the founding institutions appear under new stress, it is time to understand their origins through the fresh lens of Larson’s Franklin & Washington, a major addition to the literature of the founding era.

1775: A Good Year for Revolution


Kevin Phillips - 2012
    He suggests that the great events and confrontations of 1775—Congress’s belligerent economic ultimatums to Britain, New England’s rage militaire, the exodus of British troops and expulsion of royal governors up and down the seaboard, and the new provincial congresses and hundreds of local  committees that quickly reconstituted local authority in Patriot hands­—achieved a  sweeping Patriot control of territory and local government that Britain was never able to overcome.  These each added to the Revolution’s essential momentum so when the British finally attacked in great strength the following year, they could not regain the control they had lost in 1775.Analyzing the political climate, economic structures, and military preparations, as well as the roles of ethnicity, religion, and class, Phillips tackles the eighteenth century with the same skill and insights he has shown in analyzing contemporary politics and economics.  The result is a dramatic narrative brimming with original insights. 1775 revolutionizes our understanding of America’s origins.

Dark Eagle: A Novel of Benedict Arnold and the American Revolution


John Ensor Harr - 1999
    His men worshipped him as a hero. But as the legendary general of the Continental Army neared the pinnacle of success, things began to go wrong, drawing Arnold inexorably toward the greatest crime of the age, one that would forever make his name synonymous with the word "traitor". Meticulously researched and brilliantly rendered, Dark Eagle illuminates both sides of the Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1780. Harr traces Arnold's spectacular rise, culminating in his victory at Saratoga and his marriage to Peggy Shippen, the beautiful loyalist daughter of a prominent Philadelphia family, and Arnold's decline, culminating in his plan with Major John Andre and Peggy to betray Washington and deliver West Point to the British.

1000 Facts about Historic Figures Vol. 1


James Egan - 2018
    Martin Luther King had a pillow fight on the day he died. Osama Bin Laden loved Mr. Bean and Super Mario Bros. Pope Francis used to be a bouncer. Muhammad Ali starred in a Broadway show. Saddam Hussein played Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You during his 2002 campaign. Julius Caesar was never the emperor of Rome. Nelson Mandela said meeting the Spice Girls was “one of the greatest moments of my life.” The last thing Walt Disney said was “Kurt Russell.” Sigmund Freud tried to cure his daughter of being a lesbian. John F. Kennedy went out with Hitler’s ex-girlfriend. Abraham Lincoln took part in 300 wrestling matches. He only lost once. Michael Jackson tried to buy Marvel so he could play Spider-Man. Isaac Newton invented calculus when he was 25. He didn’t tell anybody for four years. Donald Trump tried to make a cartoon about him saving the world from aliens. Charles Manson never killed anybody in his entire life. Genghis Khan’s army killed 11% of every human being on Earth. Charles Darwin though the world was constantly growing in size. Historians believe they figured out the identity of Jack the Ripper.

1,077 Fun Facts: To Leave You In Disbelief


Charles Klotz - 2020
    

Lady Mysterious


Wendy Soliman - 2018
    Lord Nathan Stanford, the guest of honour, is easily able to resist Melanie Latimer’s charms but is intrigued by Kyra’s secretive activities. Why did she leave her family home and why, at such a young age, has she withdrawn from the marriage mart? Nate makes it his business to find out more about the mysterious lady who single-handedly holds her fragmented family together. Shocked to the core by what he discovers, Nate sets out to protect her from the gambling curse that has destroyed her family and the evil man who wants to possess her. But at what cost to himself? Will he be able to help her find out why her brother’s wife disappeared without trace? And will Nate find a way to convince Kyra that spinsterhood doesn’t suit her…

Beth


M. Cowden - 2016
    But when the rest of her family dies of the plague, Beth is married off to an older man who wants to join the settlers in Oregon. Having little choice, she agrees and reluctantly starts her new life. Her strength is quickly noticed by her new husband, as she insists on driving one of the wagons on their journey. While enjoying the view from atop a cliff during a rest stop, the ground collapses from beneath her. After searching for her for hours and finding no trace, the wagon train must go on without her. She awakens days later in a teepee surrounded by Indians. What dangers lie ahead for this young woman, and will she find the happiness that has eluded her until now?

Escape of the Amethyst


C.E. Lucas Phillips - 1957
    

On the Warpath


James Willard Schultz - 2015
    Schultz was a noted author, explorer, Glacier National Park guide, fur trader and historian of the Blackfoot Indians. While operating a fur trading post at Carroll, Montana and living amongst the Pikuni tribe during the period 1880-82, he was given the name "Apikuni" by the Pikuni chief, Running Crane. Schultz is most noted for his prolific stories about Blackfoot life and his contributions to the naming of prominent features in Glacier National Park. On the Warpath, by James Willard Schultz, is a unique and odd story of a white man's experiences while living among Indians as one of themselves. It has an extraordinarily intimate effect, as if it might be a translation from some tale written in an Indian dialect. As a story it contains many incidents that will thrill young readers. For older ones it will be valuable as a study of Indian mental and spiritual life. This book originally published by Houghton Mifflin in 1914 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.

1776


David McCullough - 2005
    It is the story of Americans in the ranks, men of every shape, size, and color, farmers, schoolteachers, shoemakers, no-accounts, and mere boys turned soldiers. And it is the story of the King's men, the British commander, William Howe, an his highly disciplined redcoats who looked on their rebel foes with contempt and fought with a valor too little known.At the center of the drama, with Washington, are two young American patriots, who, at first, knew no more of war than what they had read in books - Nathaniel Green, a Quaker who was made a general at thirty-three, and Henry Knox, a twenty-five-year-old bookseller who had the preposterous idea of hauling the guns of Fort Ticonderoga overland to Boston in the dead of Winter.But it is the American commander-in-chief who stands foremost - Washington, who had never before led an army in battle. Written as a companion work to his celebrated biography of John Adams, David McCullough's 1776 is another landmark in the literature of American history.

The Hamilton Affair


Elizabeth Cobbs - 2016
    Croix. He went to America to pursue his education. Along the way he became one of the American Revolution’s most dashing—and unlikely—heroes. Adored by Washington, hated by Jefferson, Hamilton was a lightning rod: the most controversial leader of the American Revolution.She was the well-to-do daughter of one of New York’s most exalted families—feisty, adventurous, and loyal to a fault. When she met Alexander, she fell head over heels. She pursued him despite his illegitimacy, and loved him despite his infidelity. In 1816 (two centuries ago), she shamed Congress into supporting his seven orphaned children. Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton started New York’s first orphanage. The only “founding mother” to truly embrace public service, she raised 160 children in addition to her own.With its flawless writing, brilliantly drawn characters, and epic scope, The Hamilton Affair will take its place among the greatest novels of American history.

Travels in England in 1782


Karl Philipp Moritz - 2004
    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Independence: The Struggle to Set America Free


John Ferling - 2011
    Even months after American blood had been shed at Lexington and Concord, many colonists remained loyal to Britain. John Adams, a leader of the revolutionary effort, said bringing the fractious colonies together was like getting "thirteen clocks to strike at once." Other books have been written about the Declaration, but no author has traced the political journey from protest to Revolution with the narrative scope and flair of John Ferling. Independence takes readers from the cobblestones of Philadelphia into the halls of Parliament, where many sympathized with the Americans and furious debate erupted over how to deal with the rebellion. Independence is not only the story of how freedom was won, but how an empire was lost. At this remarkable moment in history, high-stakes politics was intertwined with a profound debate about democracy, governance, and justice. John Ferling, drawing on a lifetime of scholarship, brings this passionate struggle to life as no other historian could. Independence will be hailed as the finest work yet from the author Michael Beschloss calls "a national resource."

With Fire and Sword: The Battle of Bunker Hill and the Beginning of the American Revolution


James L. Nelson - 2011
    If the Battle of Lexington and Concord was, in the immortal words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the "shot heard round the world," Bunker Hill was the volley that rocked Britain's Parliament and the ministry of King George III to its core. The Battle of Bunker Hill was the first hostile engagement of the Revolution between two organized armies, and the first time that a genuine American army had ever taken the field. It gave the British their first inkling that the Colonial rabble-in-arms they had envisioned might actually prove to be a formidable fighting force. In this book, award-winning author James L. Nelson tells the exciting and dramatic story of the fight that changed the face of the American Revolution. He looks at the events leading up to that fateful day, the personalities on both the British and American sides who made momentous decisions, and the bloody outcome of those crucial choices, which would affect the British strategy on the battlefield throughout the coming six more years of active warfare. A masterful new history of the first set-piece battle of the Revolutionary War, With Fire and Sword offers critical new insights into one of the most important actions of our country's founding.