The American Revolution—Reconsidered

     

        When it comes to the American Revolution, there are many classic histories to choose from,   David McCullough's 1776 for example.  Over the past couple of decades, there have been some well-loved biographies of iconic Revolutionary figures, too many to list here, but Ron Chernow's Hamilton and Washington bios, McCullough's Adams, and Brands' Franklin stand out.  

    And there are a number of notable historians and narrative nonfiction authors who have written excellent books about the Revolution, like Rick Atkinson, Nathaniel Philbrick, John Ferling, and Joseph J. Ellis.

    As one might imagine, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence has brought intense interest in the American Revolution, and dozens of new books have hit the shelves within the past couple of years.  Here are a few that really stood out on my reading list because they really introduce new perspectives and original, fresh takes.

The American Revolution and the Fate of the World.  Richard Bell.  Riverhead Books, 2025.  416 pages.  

Did the British musicians play “The World Turned Upside Down” when Lord Cornwallis surrendered to Washington at Yorktown?  Probably not—or at least, we have no reliable evidence that they did.

The story first appears in 1828, 47 years after the surrender. The actual surrender terms called for the British to march out to a British or German march, but no contemporary source identifies the music. Whether or not it happened,  the American Revolution did, in fact, turn the world upside down, and historian Richard Bell documents it as a transformative international event. Millions of people on every continent saw their lives affected, trade was disrupted, independence movements and progressive social reforms were inspired, and global refugee crisis was created.  Battles were fought in North America, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean.  For two years following Yorktown and the fighting largely ceased in America, the British continued to fight the French and Spanish around the world.  When the Treaty of Paris formally ended hostilities and recognized American independence, American allies France and Spain were arguably worse off than before the war, and the British Empire, despite having lost vast territory, may have emerged stronger than ever.  In this book, Richard Bell tells the full story as it has never been told before.  In a very original twist, Bell grounds his narrative in the stories of roughly a dozen individuals including Prussian drillmaster Baron von Steuben, Mohawk Molly Brant, escaped slaves John Moseley and Harry Washington who became early colonists of Australia and Sierra Leone respectively, the ruler of the Indian state of Mysore, indigenous Peruvian revolutionary Tupac Amaru, and Peggy Shippen Arnold, the wife of Benedict.  The result is a new and fresh take on the American Revolution that leaves readers informed, entertained, and contemplative --- a great read for America250.  

A Perfect Frenzy:  A Royal Governor, His Black Allies and the Crisis That Spurred the American Revolution.  Andrew Lawler.  Atlantic Monthly Press, 2025.  544 pages.   

While the American Revolution officially began in April 1775 at Lexington and Concord, two major events occurred in January 1776 that were pivotal in fueling the Patriot cause.  Thomas Paine published his pamphlet "Common Sense" laying out the arguments for independence.  The other event is perhaps less known today, but it was perhaps even more effective:  On January 1, 1776, the city of Norfolk, Virginia was burned to the ground.  No other American city in history has been completely and utterly destroyed as Norfolk was.  Twenty years later, visitors were still stunned by the vast ruins and fields of debris.  For 250 years, the Norfolk fire has been blamed on the British, specifically the royal governor Lord Dunmore.  As a result of the fire, Dunmore was vilified on both sides of the Atlantic and labeled a war criminal.  Patriot propaganda painted him as a cruel and witless libertine who hosted huge orgies with enslaved women in the Governor's Palace when he wasn't wantonly destroying the lives of his subjects.  Following the Norfolk fire, Dunmore was even shunned by his peers in the House of Lords who believed that he had gone too far.  Dunmore died in a state of ignominy, and his family was reduced to relative poverty, ostracized by the British upper class.  

The kicker?  Dunmore and the British didn't destroy Norfolk.  THE PATRIOTS INTENTIONALLY BURNED THE CITY TO THE GROUND, and this fact was always known.  The Patriot propaganda machine used the destruction to maximum advantage to stir patriotic fervor. The fact is that Norfolk was a Loyalist stronghold, and British warships did destroy a few dozen structures, mainly warehouses and docks, but 95% of the buildings destroyed were intentionally ignited by Patriot troops under orders from Patriot officers and political figures. Why? They wanted to punish Norfolk for being strongly Loyalist, and Dunmore, once extremely popular and respected governor among the landed gentry and yeoman farmers alike, had crossed the line.  He recruited and armed free and enslaved black Virginians to fight for Britain, promising freedom in return.  This book tells a great, formerly untold, story and illustrates that history is extremely complicated and never just black and white.  In this situation, you have black and white Patriots wearing engraved brass breastplates or embroidered shirts saying "Liberty or Death" going into battle against Dunmore's black Ethiopian Regiment troops wearing breastplates engraved with "Liberty For Slaves."

Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution. H.W. Brands. Doubleday, 2021. 496 pages.

The American Revolution was really a "civil war" in two main respects. First, the colonists were thoroughly British before Lexington and Concord, and very few thought otherwise. Independence was a daunting prospect. Second, the Revolution divided colonies, towns, and families. All revolutions are led by minorities. As John Adams famously estimated, one-third of Americans were for independence, one-third were against, and one-third didn't care one way or the other. Some men and women staked their lives and fortunes on deeply held beliefs and values, while some chose sides based on expediency and prospects of personal betterment. Some chose their side based on ego or peer pressure. Meanwhile, some colonists just wished to be left alone to live their lives.

H.W. Brands is one of my favorite historians, but this book is a little misstep, in my opinion. It's not quite as readable and enjoyable as his other books. It's still packed with great history and primary source documents, but it focused too much on big names like George Washington, Ben Franklin and his son William, Thomas Hutchinson, and Benedict Arnold. I wanted more stories about more rank-and-file Americans on both sides who struggled to decide which side they were on. The book is still a good read, especially if you want to learn more about the Revolution and events leading up to it and don't know much about the men listed above.

Travels With George.  Nathaniel Philbrick, 2021.  Viking, 2021.  400 pages.

During his presidency, George Washington made the effort to visit each of the thirteen states, both to educate himself about his country and also to reinforce the young country's unity.  The new country was still somewhat of a loose collection of often quarrelsome states.  There was absolutely no certainty that this wild, new, and unprecedented experiment was going to work.  Washington wanted to talk to ordinary citizens, thank them for their support, and to imbue them with the idea of being American first, rather than a New Yorker or Virginian or Georgian.  It was a major success, a great example of Washington's innate political genius.  He was an expert at imagery and setting the stage, and he used various techniques throughout his journeys to reinforce his message.  Nathaniel Philbrick, one of my favorite narrative nonfiction writers, decided to pack up his wife and dog (a la John Steinbeck in Travels With Charley) and follow Washington's routes.  This was a great read, and I highly recommend it.  

 

Who's Your Founding Father? One Man's Quest to Uncover the First True Declaration of Independence.  David Fleming. Hachette Books, 2023. 320 pages. 

Wow! Never, ever have I thought that I would enjoy a book written by a sports guy, an ESPN guy no less. David Fleming has proven me wrong.  This book is up there with Shakespeare Was A Woman as one of my favorite reads of 2023. Like that book, Who's Your Founding Father? takes an iconoclastic swing at a cherished and honored institution and totally backs it up. As a teacher, I loved challenging students' long held misconceptions and "elementary school teacher lies."

The challenged institution here is Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. No, not the truth that we should be celebrating July 2nd instead of July 4th (as John Adams felt). Whaaattttt?! Yes, the D of I was approved on July 2. The signers took the next two months to sign it, and some of the men who voted for it never signed it, and some of the signers never voted for it.  July 4th is just considered the day that it was made public. The question here is, was there an earlier Declaration of Independence that Jefferson plagiarized? Fleming presents a solid case that there was.

This is something that Americans don't know, and, in fact, various people have actively engaged in suppression and destruction of evidence over the last two hundred years in order to protect Jefferson's reputation. Oh, how the mighty have fallen! Jefferson once existed at the summit of the American pantheon: thinker, architect, author, statesman. Today, his rampant hypocrisy and petty nature have chipped away at his reputation. He railed against the evils of slavery, but his whole life and fortune were made possible by slavery. He preached against race-mixing and how it would destroy society, but he had a decades-long relationship with the enslaved Sally Hemings, his dead wife's half-sister. Even during his lifetime, however, he was frequently attacked. Critics called his architecture style imitative and derivative. Fellow Congressmen remembered him as being dull, uninterested, and uninvolved, contributing nothing to Congressional debates and discussions. During the Revolution, he was accused of cowardice while other founders bravely served. 

So, what did he plagiarize? On May 20, 1775, a group of 27 Scots-Irish Presbyterian leaders met at the county courthouse in Charlotte North Carolina to draft a declaration of independence from Great Britain, severing all ties. The document was then sent to Philadelphia where the congressmen assembled replied that it was too early and ignored it. Or did they? Whole passages appear verbatim in Jefferson's D of I. Unfortunately, fire destroyed some of the evidence of the Mecklenburg D of I in 1800, and, despite overwhelming credible evidence of its existence, it has been intentionally erased from history, except in North Carolina. John Adams was even unaware until about 1819 when he questioned Jefferson in letters and wrote about it to others. Jefferson, of course, deflected or ignored the questions, but he did say that he was always tasked with "synthesizing" and "harmonizing" numerous inspirations and never tasked with writing an "original" document.

Who's presents a compelling and interesting case for  the "Meck Deck," and it is an incredibly fun and entertaining book as well.

Shelved: Books Read and Reviewed in June 2025

 

 

                                                                        Author talk

A Perfect Frenzy:  A Royal Governor, His Black Allies and the Crisis That Spurred the American Revolution.  Andrew Lawler.  Atlantic Monthly Press, 2025.  544 pages.   

While the American Revolution officially began in April 1775 at Lexington and Concord, two major events occurred in January 1776 that were pivotal in fueling the Patriot cause.  Thomas Paine published his pamphlet "Common Sense" laying out the arguments for independence.  The other event is perhaps less known today, but it was perhaps even more effective:  On January 1, 1776, the city of Norfolk, Virginia was burned to the ground.  No other American city in history has been completely and utterly destroyed as Norfolk was.  Twenty years later, visitors were still stunned by the vast ruins and fields of debris.  For 250 years, the Norfolk fire has been blamed on the British, specifically the royal governor Lord Dunmore.  As a result of the fire, Dunmore was vilified on both sides of the Atlantic and labeled a war criminal.  Patriot propaganda painted him as a cruel and witless libertine who hosted huge orgies with enslaved women in the Governor's Palace when he wasn't wantonly destroying the lives of his subjects.  Following the Norfolk fire, Dunmore was even shunned by his peers in the House of Lords who believed that he had gone too far.  Dunmore died in a state of ignominy, and his family was reduced to relative poverty, ostracized by the British upper class.  

The kicker?  Dunmore and the British didn't destroy Norfolk.  THE PATRIOTS INTENTIONALLY BURNED THE CITY TO THE GROUND, and this fact was always known.  The Patriot propaganda machine used the destruction to maximum advantage to stir patriotic fervor. The fact is that Norfolk was a Loyalist stronghold, and British warships did destroy a few dozen structures, mainly warehouses and docks, but 95% of the buildings destroyed were intentionally ignited by Patriot troops under orders from Patriot officers and political figures. Why? They wanted to punish Norfolk for being strongly Loyalist, and Dunmore, once extremely popular and respected governor among the landed gentry and yeoman farmers alike, had crossed the line.  He recruited and armed free and enslaved black Virginians to fight for Britain, promising freedom in return.  This book tells a great, formerly untold, story and illustrates that history is extremely complicated and never just black and white.  In this situation, you have black and white Patriots wearing engraved brass breastplates or embroidered shirts saying "Liberty or Death" going into battle against Dunmore's black Ethiopian Regiment troops wearing breastplates engraved with "Liberty For Slaves."

 

 

A Fatal Thing Happened On the Way to the Way to the Forum:  Murder in Ancient Rome.  Emma Southon.  Harry N. Abrams, 2021.  352 pages.

Although I reject the stupid social media trend a short while back claiming that men constantly think about ancient Rome, I know that it is a major topic of interest for many people who like history.  Here, however, author Emma Southon illuminates an aspect of Roman history that few, if any, consider.  To paraphrase Southon, ancient Rome was an exceptionally "murder-y" place.  That in itself is not very different from our own society which has a morbid fascination with murder.  Think of how much of our entertainment - books, television, movies - is murder based.   

In this book, Southon examines a number of murders, including of course the assassination of Julius Caesar.  After all, Rome was conceived in murder when mythical founder Romulus murdered his twin Remus.  The Roman Republic was founded when the last king was overthrown following the suicide of a noble woman raped by the son of the king.  Crowds thronged arenas to cheer as men, women, and animals slaughtered each other. Criminals were crucified.  In one fifty-year period, 26 emperors were murdered.  Rome was an exceptionally violent society. This book is much more than just a recitation of cases, though.  It is an examination of Roman society and culture as a whole, through the prism of murder.  We, as readers, discover how ancient Romans viewed life, death, and what it means to be human.  It's complicated. For much of Roman history, murder was not viewed as a matter for the state to handle.  It was a family issue.  If a person was killed by another person, the victim's family handled it. Then you throw in murders of family members, murders of slaves by masters and masters by slaves, murders of emperors and political figures, and state-sponsored murder.   This book is extremely informative and thought-provoking, and it's also quite entertaining.  The author is a British podcaster with a PhD in ancient history, and the tone of the book is very "podcast-y," and she has that very British sense of humor that I love.  I highly recommend this book for those who are interested in ancient Rome.

                                                                        Part 1 of talk on life and legacy of Anna May Wong

Anna May Wong:  From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend.  Graham Russell Gao Hodges.  Chicago Review Press, 2023.  304 pages.  Updated 2nd edition, first published in 2004.

Between 1919 and 1960, Anna May Wong appeared in over 50 movies, and she was one of the biggest celebrities in the world.  American, European, and Asian movie magazines constantly published photos of her, stories about her, and stories written by her.   She socialized with other A-list celebrities and with European royalty.  She was recognized as an excellent actress, but she was also a stage and nightclub star, as an actress, singer, and monologist, often performing in multiple languages.  She was incredibly talented at presenting herself, thoughtfully using her own hairstyles and wardrobe to develop fuller characters and to advance the film plots.  During the Sino-Japanese War and World War II, she contributed most of her income and much of her time to raising funds for aid to Chinese civilians and refugees.  She invested wisely and made a comfortable living, enough for herself and to educate her siblings.  She was one of Hollywood's brightest stars --- quite an accomplishment for the daughter of a laundryman born in Los Angeles in 1905 who made her on-screen debut at 14.

Yet, few people know her name today, and far fewer have ever seen one of her films.  Her career and legacy were handicapped from the beginning by outside forces over which she had no control.  Strict movie codes of the day forbade any hint of romance between characters or actors of different races, so she was not considered for leading roles.  Her roles were often stereotypical, reflecting American racism. She played the devious Chinese female, almost always a villain or a servant, and almost always forced to kill herself in the end. Hollywood refused to hire Asian actors, casting white actors in "yellow-face," instead.  While she had many adoring fans in China, the Nationalist government condemned her because she embraced being a flapper, bared her legs and arms in films and photos, and she often played prostitutes or slave girls.  She was accused of shaming the Chinese people and their culture.  Wong was a very complicated and interesting character, and there has been a bit of resurgence in curiosity about her in recent years, with new biographies, documentaries, and even a Wong Barbie and U.S. quarters.  This bio was ahead of the curve, however, and this new, updated edition is a thorough look at her life and career, although it's a bit dry.

 

The Emperor's Tomb.  Steve Berry.  Ballantine Books, 2010.  436 pages.  Book 6 of 19 in Cotton Malone series.

I've inadvertently been on a China reading jag lately, and the sixth Cotton Malone adventure fits right in.  Retired Justice Department special agent Cotton Malone and Cassiopeia Vitt are drawn into a looming power struggle for the control of China. Two highly placed government ministers are locked in a battle that will drastically alter the state of China, and, consequently, the world.  The tomb of China's first emperor, the site of the famous terra cotta army, is the key.  The Emperor's Tomb is definitely following the Malone formula.  There's an evil secret brotherhood, there are shootouts in historic sites, and the dominant theme is betrayal.  Who's betraying whom and whom can you trust?  It's always up for grabs in a Steve Berry novel.  It makes me want to ask "Who hurt you, Steve Berry?"  They're not great books, admittedly, but they are good adventures that hold my interest.  One thing I really appreciate about each one is the author's note at the end.  Berry always explains the real history that inspires his stories, and I've learned about a number of actual events, people, and things that have led me to do research.  

 

                                                Trailer for Apple+ adaptation

Bad Monkey.  Carl Hiaasen.  Knopf, 2013.  336 pages. Book 1 of 2, Andrew Yancy series.

A break from history with this one.  Carl Hiassen introduces his "Florida Man" character, former detective Andrew Yancy.  Yancy's been fired from both the Miami and Key West police departments and finds himself demoted to "Roach Patrol,"  health inspector in in Key West restaurants. Desperate to get his detective job back, he agrees to take custody of a human arm accidentally snagged by fishing tourists.  The official story is that the arm belongs to an unfortunate boater whose boat sank and body was assumed to have been eaten by sharks, but Andrew soon finds that there is much more to the story.  A victim who is a career criminal lately practicing Medicare fraud with Feds on his trail, a scheming gold-digging widow, an estranged daughter, and a sexy medical examiner all enter Yancy's life to makes things difficult.  The case takes him to the Bahamas where an elderly Voodoo Queen and the titular simian, a former Hollywood monkey, enter the picture.  It's a great adventure, funny, action-packed, with twists and turns, full Florida.  Apple+ adapted the book into a series starring Vince Vaughn as Yancy.  It sounds like perfect casting and a good show, but I'm not adding more streamers.   (Photo generated by AI)

 

The Taking of Jemima Boone:  Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America.  Matthew Pearl.  Harper, 2021.  288 pages.

In July 1776, twelve-year old Jemima Boone, the daughter of the best known frontiersman in the American colonies, and two of her friends were kidnapped by a small group of Cherokee and Shawnee warriors.  Over the next few days, Boone and a group of men from the settlement of Boonesborough took off in hot pursuit. After about fifty miles, the pursuers caught up, rescued the girls, and killed some of the warriors, including a son of an important war chief named Blackfish.  This incident, fueled by British efforts to tamp down colonial resistance on the frontier before it blew up, led to a broader conflict as the Shawnee, the pro-war faction of the Cherokee, and elements of other tribes launched a major effort designed both to seek revenge and to end, once and for all, white encroachment into the region known as Kentucky.  The actual kidnapping and rescue are dealt with rather quickly in the book, but the real story is the aftermath.  The summer of 1776 was extremely consequential in American  history.  As delegates in Philadelphia argued over the Declaration of Independence and the opening months of the Revolution, white settlers were crossing the Appalachians into Native American territory, foreshadowing the conflict and extermination that was to follow.  This book is an excellent account of the events.

The Riptide Ultra-glide.  Tim Dorsey.  William Morrow, 2013.  304 pages.  Book 16 of 26 in Serge Storms series.

Serge Storms, psychotic serial-killing vigilante and Florida history savant, is back to wreak havoc across the state and punish the never-ending stream of criminals and con-men that prey upon the hard-working and innocent elderly, underprivileged, and tourists.  In this installment, Serge and his travel buddy Coleman take on Florida's illegal oxycontin pain clinic operations and come to the rescue of the sweet and naive McDougals, laid-off special education teachers from Wisconsin who have devoted their entire lives to their students only to find themselves in the middle of a very violent turf war that rages all over Fort Lauderdale. It's typical Serge, action and hilarity at breakneck speed.  

Reading Slump

 

    

    I never would have thought it could happen. I'm retired. I've got nothing but time on my hands. I should be reading all day. I am enjoying lots of pool and beach time. My To Be  Read (TBR) list gets longer every day.  However, I am apparently in a reading slump.  

    I'm almost always reading 2-3 books at a time, mostly history or historical fiction, with  something different thrown in once in a while, but I currently have 4 books going, for a long time. It's not that they're bad or that I am not enjoying them; I'm just not making progress.

    They're worth talking about though, and worth recommending. Maybe one of them will arouse  your interest.

    

    Three of the books are set in Georgia, my home state, and I love to read Georgia history. First is Administrations of Lunacy, the history of Central State Hospital in Milledgeville. Central State was built during the asylum movement, inspired by reformer Dorothea Dix,  of the mid 1800s. Dix was involved in the planning and construction of the asylum; she served as an advisor in several states as they built their asylums.  Central State Hospital was, for a long time, the largest mental hospital in the world. Closed years ago, the buildings and grounds have become an attraction of sorts, with many claiming that it's one of the most haunted places in the world. (Article for background https://www.atlantamagazine.com/great-reads/asylum-inside-central-state-hospital-worlds-largest-mental-institution/ )  Since I lived and taught  in Milledgeville for most of the 1990s, it's of particular interest to me.  Administrations is a thorough examination of the hospital's operations, focusing on the Jim Crow segregation years.

    The second book is a novel written by former President Jimmy Carter. Carter has written several books, but this is his only novel.  It's the story of some of Georgia's first white pioneers, set before and during the American Revolution.  It's a really good historical novel; frankly, I am a little surprised that Carter's a pretty good fiction writer.  My only complaint is that he's a just a tad too pedantic sometimes, going into great detail to explain tensions and grievances that patriot rebels had against the British. It can seem a bit clunky sometimes if you know a lot going in to the novel.

    Third is Taylor Brown's Pride of Eden.  This recently published book has gotten a lot of critical acclaim and appears on many lists of recommended books.  Brown is from southeast Georgia, and several of his books are set there. I read and enjoyed his book The River of Kings. I started his Gods of Howl Mountain, but I lost interest.  His books are beautifully written; you might call his writing style lyrical or poetic. He's an excellent storyteller. However, I've run into a block on Pride. It's the story of a man who runs an animal sanctuary in coastal Georgia, rescuing abused wild animals from circuses, zoos, and private owners.  I want to finish it, but I have a problem with the book.  Every living being in the book, human or animal, is abused, damaged, troubled, or evil.  It's emotionally draining to read.

    Finally, there's The King of Confidence. This book checks a lot of boxes for me. It's about an American history topic that I'd never heard of before. It's about a charismatic religious leader/cult leader/ con man who was eventually assassinated,  and it's well written. The main character is James Strang who went from being an atheist to claiming to be the true heir to Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. the Mormon Church. He was a rival of Brigham Young, and he created his own movement and community. His life and death were fodder for national newspapers.   

    So that's what I'm currently trying to read.  And I've got stacks of other books to follow.  One day. Sooner than later, I hope.

    

Band of Giants, The Amateur Soldiers Who Won America's Independence

By Nina Kendall

The American mythos is marked with celebration of the great acts of ordinary individuals. The leaders of the American Revolution are often portrayed as heroic figures fighting together in the name of liberty. Band of Giants, The Amateur Soldiers Who Won America's Independence by Jack Kelly is a fast paced account of early American leaders from the French and Indian War to the Treaty of Paris, 1783. Kelly uses a unique blend of personal accounts and military strategy to engage the reader and reveal the lives of military leaders in the late 18^th century. If the American Revolution serves as the origin story for America’s early leaders, Jack Kelly is going to introduce them to you in a whole new way.

Band of Giants offers the reader as chance to follow the Continental Army into battle.  You can march with Benedict Arnold into Canada and learn about Knox’s rescue of cannon for the Colonists. This book is a chance to get inside the head of America’s first military leaders. Kelly helps you get to know the leaders of American forces and their challenges as he mixes military maneuvers with excerpts from correspondence. What led Henry Knox and Nathaniel Greene to choose to go to war?  How did untested soldiers learn the practice of war?

What did George Washington know of war? In Band of Giants, you can come to know George Washington as a general. Learn of his early experience in the Ohio territory. How did he emerge as a leader in the Revolution? With careful research, Kelly reveals Washington’s growth as a leader and internal struggle during the war. Jack Kelly illustrates the relationships Washington has with key figures in the American Revolution that shape the course of the war. The strife with Charles Lee and the betrayal of Benedict Arnold strain Washington’s reserves. Yet, he draws strength from the support of the Marquis de Lafayette.

Jack Kelly gives the reader insight into to circumstances that influenced many of America’s military leaders.  Military leaders whose names dot the American landscape like Lafayette, DeKalb, and Greene emerge from the page as historical figures. Carefully woven prose makes clear the vital support America received from abroad and the risk is commanders faced on the front.  Who helped the Continental Army? What risks did they take? Delve into the mind of the young Marquis de Lafayette who risks his life and wealth in support of liberty during the American Revolution. Kelly clearly connects the contributions of men like Baron von Steuben to the success of the Continental Army.

Take the opportunity to read Band of Giants and dig into the lives of ordinary men who helped fight for American independence.  See leaders of the American Revolution as you never have before.