Guide to Sources for Research into Military History

The Patriots in the American Revolution

A People Numerous and Armed: Reflections on the Military Struggle for American Independence : John Shy (London : Oxford University Press, 1976)

Examines the Revolutionary War from the various perspectives of the numerous combatants on all sides.  From the preface: "This book might have been subtitled 'Accidental Essays on the American Revolution,' becayse each was written at the unexpected invitation of another party, to lecture, to read a paper, to write a review, or to contribute to a symposium."

A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic : John Ferling (New York : Oxford University Press, 2003)

A magisterial narrative of the struggle.  From the dust jacket: "The political stakes, this book demonstrates, were extraordinary: first to carry out a revolution against a mighty empire, and then to determine that revolution's meaning."

Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence : John Ferling (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2007)

Both superbly readable and balanced, considering the viewpoints of the various combatants in an impartial and judicious assessment of both sides.

The War of American Independence: Military Attitudes, Policies, and Practice, 1763-1789 : Don Higginbotham (Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1971)

Based on some of the finest and most thorough historical research on the subject.