Category: Plus

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This Week on Dispatches: Davis Richardson on Lafayette, Jefferson, and Revolutionary Ideas

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor and historian Davis Richardson about the correspondence between the Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the wake of the American Revolution and the coming French Revolution. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, […]

by Editors
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One Nation Under Law: The Meaning of the Declaration of Independence

BOOK REVIEW: One Nation Under Law: The Meaning of the Declaration of Independence by Carlton F.W. Larson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2026. $33.00 paperback) Carlton F.W. Larson’s monograph One Nation Under Law: The Meaning of the Declaration of Independence published by Cambridge University Press, discusses the origins of the Declaration of Independence. Through looking at […]

by Bridget Donahue Farrell
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Revolutionary War Soldiers of the Southern States

BOOK REVIEW: Revolutionary War Soldiers of the Southern States, A Demographic View by Douglas R. Dorney Jr. (JAR Books Series/Westholme, 2026, $34.95 cloth) This text represents seven years of research, analysis and writing involving the examination and study of 8,579 Revolutionary War pension applications from four southern states, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. […]

by Patrick H. Hannum
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This Week on Dispatches: Robert Swanson on Canadian Whigs and the American Revolution

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Robert Swanson on Canadians who wanted to join the other colonies in their break from English rule. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and the JAR Dispatches web site. Each episode […]

by Editors
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James Selkirk’s Revolutionary War

BOOK REVIEW: James Selkirk’s Revolutionary War: The Memoir of a Continental Sergeant, introduced and edited by Robb K. Haberman (Westholme, 2026) $32.50 hardcover In 1774, alone and at the age of sixteen, James Selkirk sailed from Scotland to the American colonies. Two years later, he enlisted in the Continental army and, because he could read […]

by Michael Barbieri
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Backcountry Resistance: South Carolina’s Militia and the Fight for American Independence

BOOK REVIEW: Backcountry Resistance: South Carolina’s Militia and the Fight for American Independence by Carl P. Borick. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2026) $27.99 hardcover As students of the Revolutionary War in the American South know, Carl Borick is the author of the definitive study of the 1780 Siege of Charleston, South Carolina, titled […]

by John R. Maass
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The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People’s Constitution

BOOK REVIEW: The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People’s Constitution by Jesse Wegman (New York: Celadon Books, 2026) $30.00 hardcover  The Broadway play 1776 depicts James Wilson, a Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress, as a cowardly, spineless understudy of John Dickinson, who opposed the Declaration of Independence. This portrayal […]

by Gene Procknow
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A Perfect Coincidence

BOOK REVIEW: A Perfect Coincidence: The Extraordinary Friendship and Astonishing Deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson by Jim Rasenberger (Scribner, 2026) It is an astounding bout of timing that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the two men who collaborated so closely in declaring independence, died on the same Fourth of July day on the […]

by Kelly Mielke
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This Week on Dispatches: Ray Raphael on the First Declarations of Independence

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews historian, author, and JAR Editorial Board member Ray Raphael on statements of independence from Great Britain before the Declaration of Independence was announced in Philadelphia, July 4, 1776. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google […]

by Editors
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This Week on Dispatches: Gary Ecelbarger on Nathaniel Ramsay at the Battle of Monmouth

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor and historian Gary Ecelbarger on Maryland Continental officer Nathaniel Ramsay and his experience at “Point of Woods,” a turning point in the Battle of Monmouth. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, […]

by Editors
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Cocked and Boozy: An Intoxicating History of the American Revolution

BOOK REVIEW: Cocked and Boozy: An Intoxicating History of the American Revolution by Brook Barbier (Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 2026) “Muddled.” “Buzzey.” “Jolly.” “Cherry Merry.” “Swallow’d a Tavern Token.” “Cat.” These terms are all euphemisms that describe someone who is inebriated. All of these words come to us courtesy of the great Dr. Benjamin […]

by Timothy Symington
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The Stamp Act and the American Revolution

BOOK REVIEW: The Stamp Act and the American Revolution by Ken Shumate. (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2025) $29.95 hardcover. The American Revolution as a process of separation from Great Britain started long before April 1775 as once-proud English colonists in North America struggled with their place in the early empire. The story of that struggle […]

by Kyler Burd
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This Week on Dispatches: Gene Procknow on Apollos Morris and His Attempt at Diplomacy

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Gene Procknow on wealthy Irish landowner Apollos Morris’s little-known attempt to broker peace between the American colonies and England before hostilities escalated. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and […]

by Editors
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Fire and Freedom: The American Revolution in New York

BOOK REVIEW: Fire and Freedom: The American Revolution in New York, edited by Thomas S. Wermuth, Devin Lander, Jennifer Lemak, Robert Chiles. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2026) $29.95 hardcover What region of the nation do people picture when they think of the setting of the American Revolution? It is certainly no surprise that New […]

by Timothy Symington
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A Dispatches Special: Andrew Scott Wills on Music of the Revolutionary Frontier

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews musician Andrew Scott Wills of the band Hawken Horse. Through his love of history and music, Nashville’s Wills has brought the Revolutionary frontier back to the 21st century. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google […]

by Editors
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Money and the Making of the American Revolution

BOOK REVIEW: Money and the Making of the American Revolution by Andrew David Edwards (Princeton University Press, 2025). $35.00 hardcover In 1953, Edmund and Helen Morgan published The Stamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution, a pathbreaking study of the earliest days of the imperial crisis which preceded the American Revolution.[1] Their contention, that the conflict […]

by Kevin Diestelow
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New Hampshire and Independence

BOOK REVIEW: New Hampshire and Independence: Rediscovered Writings from the Sons of the American Revolution edited by William Edmund Fahey (Charleston, SC: History Press, 2026). $34.99 Cloth, $24.99 Paperback The guidelines set for submissions to the Journal of the American Revolution ensure the articles exhibit the best practices of today’s historiography. They mandate that the […]

by Michael Barbieri
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The American Revolution at 250

BOOK REVIEW: The American Revolution at 250: Twenty-Four Historians Reflect on the Founding edited by Francis D. Cogliano (University of Virginia Press, 2026) $32.95 hardcover The 250th anniversary of the American Revolution has engendered a crowded commemorative landscape. This volume, The American Revolution at 250: Twenty-Four Historians Reflect on the Founding is University of Virginia […]

by Kevin Diestelow
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This Week on Dispatches: Michael Adelberg on the Monmouth County Jail Break in 1781

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Michael Adelberg on the attempt to jail Loyalists in Monmouth County, New Jersey, and the eventual jail break by prisoners in 1781. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Sunday evening(Eastern United States Time), first on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, and […]

by Editors
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Atlas of Independence: John Adams and the American Revolution

BOOK REVIEW: Atlas of Independence: John Adams and the American Revolution by Chris Mackowski, (El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, LLC, 2026) $16.95 Paperback Chris Mackowski’s Atlas of Independence positions John Adams as just that, a self-sacrificing man who attempts to direct his “reluctant colleagues” towards America’s independence. Mackowski is pretty plain in his argument […]

by Kelsey DeFord
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Siege: The Canadian Campaign in the American Revolution, 1775-1776

BOOK REVIEW: Siege: The Canadian Campaign in the American Revolution, 1775-1776 by Donald Grady Shomette (Heritage Books, 2025) Two volumes, paperback, $77.00 In its first year, the American Revolution was unstoppable. The outbreak of war at Lexington and Concord was followed by the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and victories at Moore’s Creek Bridge (North Carolina), […]

by Gabriel Neville
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The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence

BOOK REVIEW: The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence by Lauren Duval (Charlotte: University of North Carolina Press) $45.00 hardcover The Home Front by Lauren Duval, published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture in conjunction with the University of North Carolina Press, offers a comprehensive […]

by Nichole Louise
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The Killing of Jane McCrea

BOOK REVIEW: The Killing of Jane McCrea: An American Tragedy of the Revolutionary Frontier by Paul Staiti (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2025). My introduction to the Jane McCrea story came fifty years ago as part of a Revolutionary War reenactment weekend. The organizers chose my group to be part of the opening of the battle […]

by Michael Barbieri
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The Course of Human Events

BOOK REVIEW: The Course of Human Events: The Declaration of Independence and the Historical Origins of the United States by Steven Sarson. (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia) $35.00 paperback Modern interpretation of the Declaration of Independence is distressingly polarized. To some, it was the contrivance of hypocrites engaged in a war to perpetuate slavery.[1] […]

by Gabriel Neville
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Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History

BOOK REVIEW: Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History by Andrew Burstein (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2026) In Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History, Andrew Burstein tackles the inner life of Thomas Jefferson and seeks to provide a fuller picture of the man in both public and private. Although Jefferson spent much of his life in public service, […]

by Kelly Mielke
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The American Revolution and the Fate of the World

BOOK REVIEW: The American Revolution and the Fate of the World by Richard Bell (New York, NY: Riverhead Books, 2025) $35.00 hardcover University of Maryland professor Richard Bell’s latest work, The American Revolution and the Fate of the World, shows how the North American struggle for independence from British control was a global conflict, changing […]

by Timothy Symington