America at 250: History of the American Revolution nonfiction for adults

Celebrate the nation's 250th anniversary by checking out some history books about the American Revolution. Browse this list for titles available at the Sussex County Library System.

Updated February 10, 2026
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Rebels at sea privateering in the American Revolution
Dolin, Eric Jay author.
Paper Book
The heroic story of the founding of the U.S. 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--above all, its ambition and entrepreneurial...
The Great New York Fire of 1776 a lost story of the American Revolution
Carp, Benjamin L. author.
Paper Book
Who set the mysterious fire that burned down much of New York City shortly after the British took the city during the Revolutionary War?   "An elegant, reader-friendly example of assiduously researched, carefully written American history that feels definitive."-...
Liberty is sweet the hidden history of the American Revolution
Holton, Woody author.
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...
10 key campaigns of the American Revolution
Lengel, Edward G.
Paper Book
A Nation is Born Lexington, Bunker Hill, Saratoga, Washington, Hamilton, Benedict Arnold. All familiar names, but how did they all fit together? How did merchants, lawyers, farmers, and cobblers come together to defeat the British Empire, its powerful navy, and its Hessian...
The cause the American Revolution and its discontents, 1773-1783
Ellis, Joseph J. author.
Paper Book
In one of the most "exciting and engaging" (Gordon S. Wood) histories of the American founding in decades, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph J. Ellis offers an epic account of the origins and clashing ideologies of America's revolutionary era, recovering a war more brutal, and more...
Our first civil war patriots and loyalists in the American Revolution
Brands, H. W. author.
Paper Book
"A fast-paced, often riveting account of the military and political events leading up to the Declaration of Independence and those that followed during the war ... Brands does his readers a service by reminding them that division, as much as unity, is central to the founding of our nation."--...
American rebels how the Hancock, Adams, and Quincy families fanned the flames of revolution
Sankovitch, Nina author.
Paper Book
Nina Sankovitch's American Rebels explores, for the first time, the intertwined lives of the Hancock, Quincy, and Adams families, and the role each person played in sparking the American Revolution. Before they were central figures in American history, John Hancock,...
The West Point history of the American Revolution
Rogers, Clifford J. editor.
Paper Book
This is the definitive concise military history of the Revolutionary War and the fourth volume in the West Point History of Warfare series is packed with essential images, exclusive tactical maps, and expert analysis commissioned by The United States Military Academy at West Point to teach the...
The struggle for sea power a naval history of the American Revolution
Willis, Sam author.
Paper Book
A fascinating naval perspective on one of the greatest of all historical conundrums: How did thirteen isolated colonies, which in 1775 began a war with Britain without a navy or an army, win their independence from the greatest naval and military power on earth? The American...
The common cause creating race and nation in the American Revolution
Parkinson, Robert G. author.
Paper Book
When the Revolutionary War began, the odds of a united, continental effort to resist the British seemed nearly impossible. Few on either side of the Atlantic expected thirteen colonies to stick together in a war against their cultural cousins. In this pathbreaking book, Robert Parkinson argues...
Of arms and artists the American Revolution through painters' eyes
Staiti, Paul J. author.
Paper Book
A vibrant and original perspective on the American Revolution through the stories of the five great artists whose paintings animated the new American republic.The images accompanying the founding of the United States--of honored Founders, dramatic battle scenes, and seminal moments--gave...
Valiant ambition George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the fate of the American Revolution
Philbrick, Nathaniel author.
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller Winner of the George Washington Prize A surprising account of the middle years of the American Revolution and the tragic relationship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold, from the New York Times bestselling author of...
Independence lost lives on the edge of the American Revolution
DuVal, Kathleen
Paper Book
In an entirely new, global perspective on the Revolutionary period, Kathleen DuVal reveals personal stories such as that of Irish trader Oliver Pollock, Scottish plantation owners James and Isabella Bruce, and Creek leader Alexander McGillivray for whom the American Revolution was more complicated...
Revolution mapping the road to American independence 1755-1783
Brown, Richard H. (Map collector) author.
Paper Book
Historians of the Revolutionary War in America have been fortunate in their resources: few wars in history have such a rich literary and cartographic heritage. The high skills of the surveyors, artists, and engravers who delineated the topography and fields of battle allow us to observe the...
American spring Lexington, Concord, and the road to revolution
Borneman, Walter R., 1952-
Paper Book
A vibrant look at the American Revolution's first months, from the author of the bestseller The Admirals. When we reflect on our nation's history, the American Revolution can feel almost like a foregone conclusion. In reality, the first weeks and months of 1775 were...
George Washington's secret six the spy ring that saved the American Revolution
Kilmeade, Brian
Paper Book
When General George Washington beat a hasty retreat from New York City in August 1776, many thought the American Revolution might soon be over. Instead, Washington rallied - thanks in large part to a little-known, top-secret group called teh Culper Spy Ring. Washington realized that he...
Epic journeys of freedom runaway slaves of the American Revolution and their global quest for liberty
Pybus, Cassandra
Paper Book
Cassandra Pybus adds greatly to the work of [previous] scholars by insisting that slaves stand at the center of their own history . . . Her 'biographies' of flight expose the dangers that escape entailed and the courage it took to risk all for freedom. Only by measuring those dangers can the...
The unknown American Revolution the unruly birth of democracy and the struggle to create America
Nash, Gary B.
Paper Book
In the rows of august marble busts that commemorate the American Revolution, we have lost sight of the true radical spirit of the longest and most disruptive upheaval in our history, argues distinguished American historian Gary B. Nash. In this brilliant reexamination of the swirl of ideology,...
"A few bloody noses" the realities and mythologies of the American Revolution
Harvey, Robert, 1953-
Paper Book
The ensuing uprising led to the creation of the United States, the most powerful country in the modern world. Robert Harvey, whose most recent book Liberators was brilliantly reviewed on both sides of the ocean, challenges conventional views of the American Revolution in almost every aspect-why...
Divided loyalities how the American Revolution came to New York
Ketchum, Richard M., 1922-2012
Paper Book
Before the Civil War splintered the young country, there was another conflict that divided friends and family-the Revolutionary War Prior to the French and Indian War, the British government had taken little interest in their expanding American empire. Years of neglect had...
A people's history of the American Revolution how common people shaped the fight for independence
Raphael, Ray
Paper Book
The first major effort to tell the history of the American Revolution from the often overlooked standpoints of its everyday participants, A People's History of the American Revolution is a highly accessible narrative of the wartime experience that brings in the stories of previously marginalized...
Setting the world ablaze Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution
Ferling, John E.
Paper Book
Setting the World Ablaze is the story of the three men who, perhaps more than any others, helped bring the United States into being: George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. Braiding three strands into one rich narrative, John Ferling brings these American icons down from their pedestals...
Redcoats & Rebels the American Revolution through British eyes
Hibbert, Christopher, 1924-2008
Paper Book
"Outstanding....Hibbert has an eye for character and a gift for bringing to life the impact of small-minded incompetents on the wide sweep of history."- "Associated Press"
Landmarks of the American Revolution; a guide to locating and knowing what happened at the sites of independence
Boatner, Mark M., III, 1921-2006
Paper Book
The American Revolution a world war
Allison, David K., 1950- editor of compilation.
Paper Book
A lavishly illustrated essay collection that looks through a global lens at the American Revolution and re-positions it as the real 1st world war "Every American should read this marvelous book." -Douglas Brinkley, author of Rightful Heritage- Franklin D. Roosevelt...
Revolution song a story of American freedom
Shorto, Russell author.
Paper Book
From the author of the acclaimed history The Island at the Center of the World, an intimate new epic of the American Revolution that reinforces its meaning for today. Russell Shorto's work has been praised as "first-rate intellectual history" (Wall Street Journal),...

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