The American Revolution - 9780199324224

Every year, more than a million people visit Minute Man National Historic Park in Concord, Massachusetts, where the shot heard 'round the world was fired and the War of Independence began--and nearly three and a half million visit Yorktown National Battlefield, where it was won.

In The American Revolution: A Historical Guidebook, Frances H. Kennedy provides nearly 150 entries arranged in order of their chronological significance that allow readers not simply to experience these places from our past, but to understand what happened there. The list is encyclopedic: battlefields, encampments, forts, museums, meeting houses, gathering places, and more, from Faneuil Hall in Boston to Cowpens in South Carolina. To bring each site to life, Kennedy integrates primary sources, extracts from the works of prize-winning historians, and supporting material such as maps and guides to further reading. Contemporary letters and debates immerse readers in history, allowing them to relive dramatic scenes, while America's foremost historians--including David McCullough, Walter Isaacson, Mary Beth Norton, David Hackett Fischer, Gordon Wood, and Pauline Maier--explain the significance of key developments and offer context.

Based upon the best writing of the best historical minds of the last half-century, this book focuses brings the Revolutionary War to life.