The Founding of America

This time period, which I consider stretches for basically the last 50 years of the 18th century, covers a lot of topics from politics to military history to constitutional history.  So there are a wide range of books and resources. 

Here are some of my favorites:

The French and Indian War  was more important to America than most people realize. This is probably the best popular history of that war.

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Now a classic, this is probably the best overall book on this critical year of the Revolution.  Mr. McCullough is a great writer and he covers all of the key events of this year.

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Mr. Ferling is one of my favorite Revolutionary era historians.  This book is mostly political history, but it shows that the colonies declaring independence was never a sure thing, and up until early 1776 there were a great percentage of the colonies who wanted reconciliation with the Crown.

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Mr. Ferling's other masterpiece, this is probably the best one volume history of the war from a military and strategic point of view.


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So I don't normally read a lot of biographies.  But for Ron Chernow I make an exception.  His tome (and it's a doorstop) on Washington's life is both eye opening and entertaining.

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So a liberated colonials, we don't get much of the British point of view.  They were neither evil nor stupid, but men who tried to do their duty.  This book looks at several of the key political and military leaders of Britain's war to retain the colonies.

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THIS is the book for your Revolutionary War buff (oyy, I hate that word). Mr. Atkinson is bringing his considerable narrative and research skills to the Revolution with what will no doubt be a masterful trilogy on the war that covers EVERYTHING from politics to military action, to social and economic issues.  This will be, in my opinion, the authoritative trilogy on this era. 

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Another semi-biographical book, this is a new addition to my library and tells the story of America's first political dynasties, as it were.

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After the war, the new nation needed a real government that could solve the multitude of problems they faced. This book, another doorstop, tells the tale of how the Constitution came about, pretty much by covert action.

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Once the Constitution was written it was not a done deal. There was tremendous debate about the virtues of the new Federal government.

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Even once George Washington became our first President, he basically had to design the job, including establishing the idea of a Presidential cabinet.

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And my favorite internet web site

Journal of the American Revolution