The American Revolution: Documents Decoded

This engaging overview of the American Revolution enables readers to consider and understand history with greater intimacy and accuracy through more than 100 primary documents.

This book provides American history readers with a handy reference that examines all important aspects of the era of the American Revolution. The author models how an expert scholar interacts with primary sources, thereby providing guidance that shows readers how to pick apart and critically evaluate firsthand the key documents chronicling these major events in American history.

The book is divided into four sections. The first, The Road to Revolution, deals with events that include both British actions and Colonial reactions. The section’s major focus is on the question, What brings people to the point where they are willing to spill blood for a cause? Section two is about the war’s battles, highlighting military strategy and tactics and the decisive role of leadership in achieving victory. Section three, A Nation of Amazons, focuses on the military exploits of women who disguised themselves as men, fired cannons, executed enemy soldiers, and served as spies. Section four, titled The Songs of Liberty, shares works that both inspired and reflected the conflict’s main events.

Provides carefully selected key documents that help readers understand the American Revolution-and U.S. history in general

Makes primary source documents more accessible and comprehensible

Includes a concise introduction that summarizes the critical points in the history of the American Revolution

Shows how historians deconstruct and interpret documents

Supplies useful annotations that guide the reader’s analysis