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Published May 2019
800 pages
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion
Publication Information
From the bestselling author of the Liberation Trilogy comes the extraordinary first volume of his new trilogy about the American Revolution.
Rick Atkinson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army at Dawn and two other superb books about World War II, has long been admired for his deeply researched, stunningly vivid narrative histories. Now he turns his attention to a new war, and in the initial volume of the Revolution Trilogy he recounts the first twenty-one months of America's violent war for independence.
From the battles at Lexington and Concord in spring 1775 to those at Trenton and Princeton in winter 1777, American militiamen and then the ragged Continental Army take on the world's most formidable fighting force. It is a gripping saga alive with astonishing characters: Henry Knox, the former bookseller with an uncanny understanding of artillery; Nathanael Greene, the blue-eyed bumpkin who becomes a brilliant battle captain; Benjamin Franklin, the self-made man who proves to be the wiliest of diplomats; George Washington, the commander in chief who learns the difficult art of leadership when the war seems all but lost. The story is also told from the British perspective, making the mortal conflict between the redcoats and the rebels all the more compelling.
Full of riveting details and untold stories, The British Are Coming is a tale of heroes and knaves, of sacrifice and blunder, of redemption and profound suffering. Rick Atkinson has given stirring new life to the first act of our country's creation drama.
"By providing vivid portraits of even minor characters, Atkinson enables readers to feel the loss of individual lives on both sides of the conflict, and by providing memorable details…he brings new life even to chapters of oft-told American history…A superlative treatment of the period." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"This balanced, elegantly written, and massively researched volume is the first in a projected trilogy about the Revolutionary War…Aided by fine and numerous maps, this is superb military and diplomatic history and represents storytelling on a grand scale." - Booklist (starred review)
"This graphic account will especially appeal to military history enthusiasts but is accessible for all readers seeking to experience the realities of the revolution." - Library Journal (starred review)
"A sturdy, swift-moving contribution to the popular literature of the American Revolution." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Elliott O'Donovan
Lawrence Rush "Rick" Atkinson IV (born November 16, 1952) is the 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―as well as The Long Gray Line and other books. His many additional awards include a Pulitzer Prize for journalism, the George Polk Award, and the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award. A former staff writer and senior editor at The Washington Post, he lives in Washington, D.C.
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