America at 250: Books for Adults

Reflect on American history and the founding of the United States with these books for the semiquincentennial.

Updated June 30, 2026
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Liberty is sweet : the hidden history of the American Revolution
Holton, Woody
Paper Book
A "deeply researched and bracing retelling" (Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian) of the American Revolution, showing how the Founders were influenced by overlooked Americans--women, Native Americans, African Americans, and religious dissenters. Using more than...
The American Revolution : an intimate history
Ward, Geoffrey C.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the award-winning historian and filmmakers of The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, The Roosevelts, and others: a richly illustrated, human-centered history of America's founding struggle--expanding on the landmark, six-part PBS series ...
Tom Paine's War: The Words That Rallied a Nation and the Founder for Our Time
Kelly, Jack
Paper Book
"Covers a narrow chronology, from September 1776 to January 1777. These were the darkest days of the Revolutionary War. They were also the months that produced some of Paine's most famous writings. The conjunction of these events and ideas is the subject of Mr. Kelly's narrative." --...
The indispensables : the diverse soldier-mariners who shaped the country, formed the Navy, and rowed Washington across the Delaware
O'Donnell, Patrick K.
Paper Book
From the bestselling author of Washington's Immortals and The Unknowns, an important new chronicle of the American Revolution heralding the heroism of the men from Marblehead, Massachusetts On the stormy night of August 29, 1776, the Continental Army faced capture or annihilation after...
Never caught : the Washingtons' relentless pursuit of their runaway slave, Ona Judge
Dunbar, Erica Armstrong
Paper Book
A startling and eye-opening look into America's First Family, Never Caught is the powerful story about a daring woman of "extraordinary grit" (The Philadelphia Inquirer). When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left behind his beloved Mount...
The Indian world of George Washington : the first President, the first Americans, and the birth of the nation
Calloway, Colin G.
Audiobook
In this sweeping new biography, Colin Calloway uses the prism of George Washington's life to bring focus to the great Native leaders of his time--Shingas, Tanaghrisson, Bloody Fellow, Joseph Brant, Red Jacket, Little Turtle--and the tribes they represented: the Iroquois Confederacy, Lenape, Miami,...

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