Books from or about 1776-1801 (America250 Challenge)

Updated April 8, 2026
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1776
McCullough, David G.
Paper Book
America's beloved and distinguished historian presents, in a book of breathtaking excitement, drama, and narrative force, the stirring story of the year of our nation's birth, 1776, interweaving, on both sides of the Atlantic, the actions and decisions that led Great Britain to undertake a war...
Alexander Hamilton
Chernow, Ron.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller, and the inspiration for the hit Broadway musical Hamilton! Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow presents a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn...
America's first daughter
Dray, Stephanie
Paper Book
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In a compelling, richly researched novel that draws from thousands of letters and original sources, bestselling authors Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie tell the fascinating, untold story of Thomas Jefferson's eldest daughter, Martha "Patsy"...
America, América : a new history of the New World
Grandin, Greg
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller * A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, 2025 Kirkus Prize, 2025 Cundill History Prize, and 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker,The New Republic,...
American Patriarch: The Life of George Washington
Brands, H W
Paper Book
From historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist H. W. Brands comes an inspiring portrait of George Washington that examines his unrivaled leadership in the birth of America. "With this masterly volume, Brands has further solidified his standing as one of our nation's greatest historians....
Benjamin Franklin : an American life
Isaacson, Walter.
Paper Book
In this authoritative and engrossing full-scale biography, Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Einstein and Steve Jobs, shows how the most fascinating of America's founders helped define our national character. Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks...
The cause : the American Revolution and its discontents, 1773-1783
Ellis, Joseph J.
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...
The fate of the day : the war for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780
Atkinson, Rick
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * In the second volume of the landmark American Revolution trilogy by the bestselling author of The British Are Coming, George Washington's army fights on the knife edge between victory and defeat. Rick Atkinson is featured in the new Ken...
The first conspiracy : the secret plot to kill George Washington
Meltzer, Brad
Paper Book
Taking place during the most critical period of our nation's birth, The First Conspiracy tells a remarkable and previously untold piece of American history that not only reveals George Washington's character, but also illuminates the origins of America's counterintelligence movement...
A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams
Dray, Stephanie
Paper Book
In time for the 250th Anniversary of the birth of the United States comes a sweeping, intimate portrayal of Abigail Adams--wife of one president and mother to another--whose wit, willpower, and wisdom helped shape the fledgling republic. A stunning historical novel with modern-day...
Four hundred souls : a community history of African America, 1619-2019
Kendi, Ibram X.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A chorus of extraordinary voices tells the epic story of the four-hundred-year journey of African Americans from 1619 to the present--edited by Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, and Keisha N. Blain, author of Set the World on...
Franklin & Washington : the founding partnership
Larson, Edward J.
Paper Book
"Larson's elegantly written dual biography reveals that the partnership of Franklin and Washington was indispensable to the success of the Revolution." --Gordon S. Wood  From the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian comes a masterful, first-of-its-kind dual biography of...
The frozen river : a novel
Lawhon, Ariel
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * GMA BOOK CLUB PICK * AN NPR BOOK OF THE YEAR * From the New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia and Code Name Hélène comes a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha...
The girl from Greenwich Street : a novel of Hamilton, Burr, and America's first murder trial
Willig, Lauren
Paper Book
Based on the true story of a famous trial, this novel is Law and Order: 1800, as Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr investigate the shocking murder of a young woman who everyone--and no one--seemed to know. At the start of a new century, a shocking murder transfixes Manhattan,...
The great contradiction : the tragic side of the American founding
Ellis, Joseph J.
Paper Book
A major new history from our most trusted voice on the Revolutionary era, the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Founding Brothers and the National Book Award winner American Sphinx, and featured in THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, a film by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt,...
The greatest sentence ever written
Isaacson, Walter
Paper Book
America's bestselling biographer reveals the origins of the most revolutionary sentence in the Declaration of Independence, the one that defines who we are as Americans--and explains how it should shape our politics today. "Isaacson uses a jeweler's loupe to scan what gives...
In the hurricane's eye : the genius of George Washington and the victory at Yorktown
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Nathaniel Philbrick is a masterly storyteller. Here he seeks to elevate the naval battles between the French and British to a central place in the history of the American Revolution. He succeeds, marvelously."--The New York Times Book Review<...
Ingenious : a biography of Benjamin Franklin, scientist
Munson, Richard
Paper Book
Benjamin Franklin was one of the preeminent scientists of his time. Driven by curiosity, he conducted cutting-edge research on electricity, heat, ocean currents, weather patterns, chemical bonds, and plants. But today, Franklin is remembered more for his political prowess and diplomatic...
Jefferson's Daughters Three Sisters, White and Black, in a Young America
Kerrison, Catherine.
Ebook
The remarkable untold story of Thomas Jefferson's three daughters--two white and free, one black and enslaved--and the divergent paths they forged in a newly independent America   FINALIST FOR THE GEORGE WASHINGTON PRIZE * "Beautifully written . . . To a nuanced study of...
The kitchen house
Grissom, Kathleen.
Paper Book
Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of the highly anticipated Glory Over Everything, established herself as a remarkable new talent with The Kitchen House, now a contemporary classic. In this gripping novel, a dark secret threatens to expose the best and worst...
My dear Hamilton : a novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton
Dray, Stephanie
Paper Book
USA Today Bestseller "An edge-of my sear immersion into historical events...No study of Alexander Hamilton would be complete without reading this book." --Karen White, New York Times bestselling author "The best book of the year!" --Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling...
Never caught : the Washingtons' relentless pursuit of their runaway slave, Ona Judge
Dunbar, Erica Armstrong
Paper Book
Finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction "A fascinating and moving account of a courageous and resourceful woman. Beautifully written and utilizing previously untapped sources it sheds new light both on the father of our country and on the intersections of slavery and...
Our first civil war : patriots and loyalists in the American Revolution
Brands, H. W.
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."--...
The pioneers : the heroic story of the settlers who brought the American ideal west
McCullough, David G.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important chapter in the American story that's "as resonant today as ever" (The Wall Street Journal)--the settling of the Northwest Territory by courageous pioneers who...
The rediscovery of America : native peoples and the unmaking of U.S. history
Blackhawk, Ned
Paper Book
A sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essential to understanding the evolution of modern America National Bestseller Winner of the 2023 National Book Award in Nonfiction * Finalist for the 2023 Los...
The revolutionary : Samuel Adams
Schiff, Stacy
Paper Book
This revelatory biography from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author explores the story of the most essential Founding Father--the one who stood behind the change that sparked the American Revolution. "A glorious book that is as entertaining as it is vitally important....
The taking of Jemima Boone : colonial settlers, tribal nations, and the kidnap that shaped America
Pearl, Matthew
Paper Book
"A rousing tale of frontier daring and ingenuity, better than legend on every front." -- Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stacy Schiff A Goodreads Most Anticipated Book In his first work of narrative nonfiction, Matthew Pearl, bestselling author of acclaimed novel The Dante...
You never forget your first : a biography of George Washington
Coe, Alexis
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AN NPR CONCIERGE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR "In her form-shattering and myth-crushing book....Coe examines myths with mirth, and writes history with humor... [You Never Forget Your First] is an accessible look at a president who...

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