The Journal of the American Revolution Book-of-the-Year Award is an annual recognition to the adult non-fiction volume that best mirrors the mission of Journal of the American Revolution, which is to deliver passionate, creative, and clear content that makes American Revolution and Founding Era history come alive for a broad audience. Winning books commonly feature meticulous research and well-written narratives. Nominations for the annual award are due by November 10 of the award year.
Nominations
Publishers must send three copies of nominated book(s) by November 10 of the award year. Please contact ed****@al**************.com (subject line: JAR Book Award Nomination) for further instructions. Nominations may also be made by Journal of the American Revolution editors and writers.
Minimum Selection Criteria
Books will only be accepted as nominations if they meet the following criteria:
- Adult non-fiction
- Published during the award year or the previous year
- Subject related to the American Revolution or Founding Era
- Contains cited sources and uses mostly primary sources
Announcement
Winners will be announced and publicized in the Journal of the American Revolution in January of the following year.
About Journal of the American Revolution
Regularly featuring groundbreaking research and perspective from expert writers, Journal of the American Revolution is the leading online source of information about the American Revolution and Founding era, providing educational, peer-reviewed articles by professional historians and experts in American Revolution studies. In a world of increasing historical illiteracy and apathy, this popular journal publishes passionate, creative, and smart content intended to make history more palatable to a broader audience.
Past Winners
- 2023 (winner) The Lionkeeper of Algiers: How an American Captive Rose to Power in Barbary and Saved His Homeland from War by Des Ekin (Essex, CT: Prometheus Books, 2023)
- 2023 (honorable mention) Disunion Among Ourselves: The Perilous Politics of the American Revolution by Eli Merritt (Athens,Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2022)
- 2023 (honorable mention) The Untold War at Sea: America’s Revolutionary Privateersby Kylie A. Hulbert (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2023)
- 2022 (winner) The Sewing Girl’s Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America by John Wood Sweet (Henry Holt and Company, 2022)
- 2022 (honorable mention) Misinformation Nation: Foreign New and the Politics of Truth in Revolutionary America by Jordan E. Taylor (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022)
- 2022 (honorable mention) Our Dear-Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America by Michael D. Breidenbach (Harvard University Press, 2021)
- 2021 (winner) The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton by Andrew Porwancher (Princeton University Press, 2021)
- 2021 (honorable mention) Resisting Independence: Popular Loyalism in the Revolutionary British Atlantic by Brad A. Jones (Cornell University Press, 2021)
- 2020 (winner) The Boston Massacre: A Family History by Serena Zabin (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
- 2020 (honorable mention) A Crisis of Peace: George Washington, the Newburgh Conspiracy, and the Fate of the American Revolution by David Head (Pegasus Books)
- 2019 (winner) Quarters: The Accommodation of the British Army and the Coming of the American Revolution by John Gilbert McCurdy (Cornell University Press)
- 2019 (honorable mention) The Will of the People: The Revolutionary Birth of America by T. H. Breen. (Harvard University Press)
- 2018 (winner) The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation by Colin G. Calloway (Oxford University Press, 2018)
- 2018 (honorable mention) Frontier Rebels: The Fight for Independence in the American West, 1765–1776 by Patrick Spero (W.W. Norton & Company, 2018)
- 2017 (winner) The Martyr and the Traitor: Nathan Hale, Moses Dunbar, and the American Revolution by Virginia DeJohn Anderson (Oxford University Press, 2017)
- 2017 (honorable mention) The Revolutionary War Lives and Letters of Lucy and Henry Knox by Phillip Hamilton (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017)
- 2016 (winner) Brothers at Arms, American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It by Larrie D. Ferreiro (Knopf, 2016)
- 2016 (honorable mention) First Entrepreneur: How George Washington Built His—and the Nation’s—Prosperity by Edward G. Lengel (Da Capo Press, 2016)
- 2015 (winner) Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution by Kathleen DuVal (Random House, 2015)
- 2015 (honorable mention) The Spirit of ’74: How the American Revolution Began by Ray Raphael and Marie Raphael (New Press, 2015)
- 2015 (honorable mention) After Yorktown: The Final Struggle for American Independence by Don Glickstein (Westholme, 2015)
- 2014 (winner) Dangerous Guests: Enemy Captives and Revolutionary Communities During the War for Independence by Ken Miller (Cornell University Press, 2014)
- 2014 (honorable mention) An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America by Nick Bunker (Knopf, 2014)
- 2014 (honorable mention) Inventing Ethan Allen by John J. Duffy and H. Nicholas Muller III (University Press of New England, 2014)
