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recommended books
American War of Independence
General Works
Contemporary Accounts
Battles
Bunker Hill
Cowpens
Saratoga
Yorktown
Biographies |
Books - American War of Independence
 Middlekauff, Robert, The Glorious Cause, The American Revolution 1763-1789. A very well researched book that is especially strong on the events that led up to the Revolution, which take up the first third of the book. Unlike many similar books it also covers the years immediately after the war and up to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. |       |
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Ramsay, David The History of the American Revolution, vol I. One of the earliest histories of the revolution, first published in 1789 this work provides an invaluable insight into the way the earliest Americans saw their recent past. This first volume starts with a brief history of the colonies from their foundation, through the causes of the war and up to 1776.
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Ramsay, David The History of the American Revolution, vol II , The second volume continues from 1777 until the end of the war, and up to the ratification of the Constitution, then a very recent event. Despite it's age, Ramsay's work still has great value. He was a member of the Congress in between 1782 and 1786 and as such had easy access to the documents produced during the war, and to people who had been important during it. His work was highly rated when first published.
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Decisive Day: The Battle for Bunker Hill , Richard M. Ketchum. A very well received book on the battle and the period immediately before it.
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A Devil of a Whipping: The Battle of Cowpens , Lawrence E. Babits. A very detailed re-examination of the relatively unknown American victory at the battle of Cowpens, based heavily on a detailed examination of original eyewitness accounts.
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 Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War, Richard M. Ketchum. A well respected account of the Saratoga campaign that deals well with the individual clashes that gave the campaign much of it's character. |    |
Yorktown 1781, Brendan Morrissey, Ospre, 1997. Well illustrated and detailed account of the decisive battle of the war. Has a good set of 3D maps of the battlefield. Morrissey has written widely on the War of Independence.
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Lincoln, Benjamin
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Mattern, David, Benjamin Lincoln and the American Revolution, a detailed and sympathetic biography of this undeservedly obscure American revolutionary general.
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Black, Jeremy, War For America: The Fight for Independence 1775-1783.
Provides a clear narrative of the war, taken year by year, with good chapters on some of the later years that are often skipped over. Also contains a good selection of quotes from participents in the conflict. 
