The first twenty-one months of the American Revolution—which began at Lexington and ended at Princeton—was the story of a ragged group of militiamen and soldiers fighting to forge a new nation. By the winter of 1777, the exhausted Continental Army could claim only that it had barely escaped annihilation by the world’s most formidable fighting force. In his new book, the second of his trilogy on the war, Rick Atkinson provides a riveting narrative covering the middle years of the Revolution. Stationed in Paris, Benjamin Franklin woos the French; in Pennsylvania, George Washington pleads with Congress to deliver the money, men, and materiel he needs to continue the fight. In New York, General William Howe, the commander of the greatest army the British have ever sent overseas, plans a new campaign against the Americans—even as he is no longer certain that he can win this searing, bloody war. The months and years that follow bring epic battles at Brandywine, Saratoga, Monmouth, and Charleston, a winter of misery at Valley Forge, and yet more appeals for sacrifice by every American committed to the struggle for freedom.
About Rick Atkinson
Rick Atkinson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Liberation Trilogy—An Army at Dawn (winner of the Pulitzer Prize for history), The Day of Battle, and The Guns at Last Light—The Long Gray Line; The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777, the first volume of the Revolution Trilogy; and The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777–1780. His many additional awards include a Pulitzer Prize for journalism, the George Polk Award, and the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award.
Ticket Info:
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Program Notes:
- Tickets are required for in-person admission. Tickets are not needed if you would prefer to join us live on YouTube or Facebook. - Admission to this lecture is discounted for members. Members, please login to the VMHC website to reserve your tickets. - In-person attendees are invited to meet the speaker immediately following the lecture. - Signed copies of the book will be available at ShopVirginiaHistory.org.
