In just the past couple of years there’s been a wealth of invigorating new books published on the American Revolution. We find great biographies; some long over due that highlight both Americans and British warriors as well as statesmen. Featured are the likes of John Haslet of the famed Delaware regiment, Benjamin Rush, army surgeon, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and organizer of the first anti-slave society in America, Mary Washington, whose controlling influence shaped our country’s future leader, and Banastre Tarleton, who the movie “Patriots” used as material for their ultimate ‘bad guy’ portrayal. Some famous battles have a fresh new look, like Germantown, and the not so famous, like the massacre at Fort Griswold. There are far more books on African Americans and women, reflecting social injustice that has been an undercurrent throughout our history. And an affluence of social and economic analysis of the causes and aftermath of the War for Independence.
There is no specific order of interest; like browsing through your local library and checking out any books that catch your fancy. I included a brief description of each book, mainly the author’s. If you like, just click the image and you can read a preview or order directly through Amazon. I hope you enjoy and thanks for letting me share. All the best and please stay safe. Harry Schenawolf – Sr. Editor Revolutionary War Journal
The Virginia Dynasty is a vivid account of leadership focusing on the first four Virginia presidents–George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Friends and rivals, these four presidents led in securing independence, hammering out the United States Constitution, and building a working republic. Taking full measure of strengths and failures in the personal as well as the political lives of the men at the center of this book, Cheney offers a concise and original exploration of how the United States came to be.
In his celebrated account of the origins of American unity, John Adams described July 1776 as the moment when thirteen clocks managed to strike at the same time. So how did these American colonies overcome long odds to create a durable union capable of declaring independence from Britain? In this powerful new history of the fifteen tense months that culminated in the Declaration of Independence, Robert G. Parkinson provides a troubling answer: racial fear. Parkinson argues that patriot leaders used racial prejudices to persuade Americans to declare independence. Thirteen Clocks offers an accessible history of the Revolution that uncovers the uncomfortable origins of the republic even as it speaks to our own moment.
The Puiltzer Prize-winning journalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author offers a revelatory new book about the founding fathers, examining their educations and, in particular, their devotion to the ancient Greek and Roman classics – and how that influence would shape their ideals and the new American nation.
The Road to Guilford Courthouse is a brilliant account of the proud and ferocious American fighters who stood up to the British forces in savage battles crucial in deciding both the fate of the Carolina colonies and the outcome of the war. “John Buchanan offers us a lively, accurate account of a critical period in the War of Independence in the south. Based on numerous printed primary and secondary sources, it deserves a large reading audience.” -Don Higginbotham, Professor of History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Two decades before he led America to independence, George Washington was a flailing young soldier serving the British Empire in the vast wilderness of the Ohio Valley. Naïve and self-absorbed, the twenty-two-year-old officer accidentally ignited the French and Indian War—a conflict that opened colonists to the possibility of an American Revolution. With powerful narrative drive and vivid writing, Young Washington recounts the wilderness trials, controversial battles, and emotional entanglements that transformed Washington from a temperamental striver into a mature leader.
Noel B. Gerson uncovers the rise of a man who lost his father at the age of one, entered Princeton as a sophomore at thirteen, took part in Colonel Benedict Arnold’s expedition to Quebec, became a national hero for saving an entire brigade from capture during the New York Campaign, and after the war rose to become a leading figure in New York politics, becoming vice-president in 1800 before the infamous duel occurred four years later. “An absorbing biography of the Revolutionary war hero… the author portrays Burr as a brilliant man with an overwhelming ego and charm to match — a con man, forger, sharpshooting bully mistrusted by Washington and Jefferson, yet able to rise to high office in a career that occasionally suggests some modern parallels.” — Publishers Weekly
Redcoats. For Americans, the word brings to mind the occupying army that attempted to crush the Revolutionary War. There was more to these soldiers than their red uniforms, but the individuals who formed the ranks are seldom described in any detail in historical literature, leaving unanswered questions. Who were these men? Why did they join the army? Where did they go when the war was over? Don N. Hagist brings life to these soldiers, describing the training, experiences, and outcomes of British soldiers who fought during the Revolution. What emerges from these vignettes is the understanding that while these were “common” soldiers, each soldier was completely unique, for, as Hagist writes, “There was no ‘typical’ British soldier.”
In 2010, David Mark Hall gave a lecture at the Heritage Foundation entitled “Did America Have a Christian Founding?” His balanced and thoughtful approach to this controversial question caused a sensation. In this new book, Hall expands upon this essay, making the airtight case that America’s Founders were not deists; that they did not create a “godless” Constitution; that even Jefferson and Madison did not want a high wall separating church and state; that most Founders believed the government should encourage Christianity; and that they embraced a robust understanding of religious liberty for biblical and theological reasons.
On October 4, 1777, obscured by darkness and a heavy morning fog, Washington launched a surprise attack on the British garrison at Germantown. His early attack found initial success and drove the British legions before him. The recapture of the colonial capital seemed within Washington’s grasp until poor decisions by the American high command brought about a reversal of fortune and a clear British victory. Like Brandywine, however, the bloody fight at Germantown proved that Continental soldiers could stand toe-to-toe with British Regulars. Harris’s Germantown is the first complete study to merge the strategic, political, and tactical history of this complex operation and important set-piece battle into a single compelling account.
The Rifleman offers a gripping, fact-based story of how Daniel Morgan and his courageous riflemen played a crucial role in George Washington’s victory in the American Revolution. This is a war story. It’s about real people and events before and during the American Revolution.
Mary Ball Washington was an unlikely candidate to be the mother of history’s most famous revolutionary. In fact, George Washington’s first fight for independence was from his controlling, singular mother. Mary’s influence on George was twofold. Though she raised her eldest son to become one of the world’s greatest leaders, Mary also tried many times to hold him back. A significant contribution to American history, Mary Ball Washington is the definitive take on the relationship between George and Mary Washington, offering fresh insight into this extraordinary figure who would shape our nation—and the woman who shaped him.
Tucked away in the pages of history are amazing stories of African men, both slave and free, who courageously fought for the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Equally as important are the women who fought with words that penetrated like bullets. And the Jewish emigrants in South Carolina who gave their lives and their fortunes for what America offered. More than 21 courageous patriots are celebrated in this book.
Before the British surrendered at Yorktown, Benedict Arnold led 1,800 British troops on a punitive expedition to destroy the American privateer base in New London. The result was a bloody assault by the British on Fort Griswold and the near massacre of its defenders. This is a story of that long forgotten stubborn defense by American patriots and the unusual and unforeseen circumstances that turned the assault into a bloodbath—the most sanguinary battle ever witnessed on the soil of Connecticut.
In the vaunted annals of America’s founding, Boston has long been held up as an exemplary “city upon a hill” and the “cradle of liberty” for an independent United States. Wresting this revered metropolis from these misleading, tired clichés, The City-State of Boston highlights Boston’s overlooked past as an autonomous city-state, and in doing so, offers a pathbreaking and brilliant new history of early America. The City-State of Boston peels away layers of myth to offer a startlingly fresh understanding of this iconic urban center.
Ayoung African American slave named Elizabeth was put on board the Lucretia in New York Harbor, bound for Charleston. She had no idea that Robert Townsend, a son of the family she was enslaved by, would locate her, safeguard her child, and return her to New York. Robert Townsend is best known as one of George Washington’s most trusted spies, but few know the story of his development into a fierce abolitionist. As Robert and Elizabeth’s story unfolds, prominent figures from history cross their path, including Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Benedict Arnold, John André and John Adams; as well as participants in the Boston Massacre.
Two centuries before the daring exploits of Navy SEALs and Marine Raiders captured the public imagination, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps were already engaged in similarly perilous missions: raiding pirate camps, attacking enemy ships in the dark of night, and striking enemy facilities and resources on shore. Beginning with the Continental Navy, Small Boats and Daring Men traces maritime missions through the wars of the early republic, from the coast of modern-day Libya to the rivers and inlets of the Chesapeake Bay. Offering a critical new look at the naval history of the Early American era, this book also raises fundamental questions for naval strategy in the twenty-first century.
In her form-shattering and myth-crushing book….Coe examines myths with mirth, and writes history with humor… Young George Washington was raised by a struggling single mother, demanded military promotions, caused an international incident, and never backed down–even when his dysentery got so bad he had to ride with a cushion on his saddle. But after he married Martha, everything changed. Washington became the kind of man who named his dog Sweetlips and hated to leave home. He took up arms against the British only when there was no other way, though he lost more battles than he won. With irresistible style and warm humor, You Never Forget Your First combines rigorous research and lively storytelling that will have readers–including those who thought presidential biographies were just for dads–inhaling every page.
This breathtaking installment in Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard’s mega-bestselling Killing series transports readers to the most important era in our nation’s history: the Revolutionary War. Told through the eyes of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Great Britain’s King George III, Killing England chronicles the path to independence in gripping detail, taking the reader from the battlefields of America to the royal courts of Europe. Killing England reminds one and all how the course of history can be changed through the courage and determination of those intent on doing the impossible.
This masterly work of historical writing, Mary Beth Norton’s first in almost a decade, looks at the sixteen months during which the traditional loyalists to King George III began their discordant “discussions” that led to their acceptance of the inevitability of war against the British Empire and to the clashes at Lexington and Concord in mid-April 1775. Although the Declaration of Independence would not be formally adopted until July 1776, Americans, even before the outbreak of war in April 1775, had in effect “declared independence” by obeying the decrees of their new provincial governments rather than colonial officials. The much-anticipated new book by one of America’s most dazzling historians–the culmination of more than four decades of Norton’s research and thought.
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.
The Revolutionary War encompassed at least two struggles: one for freedom from British rule, and another, quieter but no less significant fight for the liberty of African Americans, thousands of whom fought in the Continental Army. Standing in Their Own Light restores these African American patriots to their rightful place in the historical struggle for independence and the end of racial oppression. Van Buskirk notes the varied conditions of slavery before the war, the different degrees of racial integration across the Continental Army, and the war’s divergent effects on both northern and southern states. Her efforts retrieve black patriots’ experiences from historical obscurity and reveal their importance in the fight for equal rights—even though it would take another war to end slavery in the United States.
You dream of a new country and crave independence from Britain. But do you have the courage to act on your feelings? Will you spy on the enemy? Will you fight for freedom? Are you willing to risk your life for your beliefs? These are the stories of courageous women who did just that.
Serena Zabin’s The Boston Massacre delivers an indelible new slant on iconic American Revolutionary history. The story of the Boston Massacre—when on a late winter evening in 1770, British soldiers shot five local men to death—is familiar to generations. But from the very beginning, many accounts have obscured a fascinating truth: the Massacre arose from conflicts that were as personal as they were political. Professor Serena Zabin draws on original sources and lively stories to follow British troops as they are dispatched from Ireland to Boston in 1768 to subdue the increasingly rebellious colonists. And she reveals a forgotten world hidden in plain sight: the many regimental wives and children who accompanied these armies.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER. One of Washington Post’s “10 Books to Read in February”. One of USA Today’s “Must-Read Books” of Winter 2020 . One of Publishers Weekly’s “Top Ten” Spring 2020 Memoirs/Biographies. Franklin and Washington—the two most revered figures in the early republic—staked their lives and fortunes on the American experiment in liberty and were committed to its preservation. Today the United States is the world’s great superpower, and yet we also wrestle with the government Franklin and Washington created more than two centuries ago—the power of the executive branch, the principle of checks and balances, the electoral college—as well as the wounds of their compromise over slavery. Now, as the founding institutions appear under new stress, it is time to understand their origins through the fresh lens of Larson’s Franklin & Washington, a major addition to the literature of the founding era.
Follow along on the journey of Delaware’s Revolutionary War hero, John Haslet, and the legendary regiment he commanded during the 1776 campaign of George Washington’s army. This is the story of Colonel John Haslet, an Irish immigrant to the American colonies who made the ultimate sacrifice while fighting for his adopted country. David Price’s latest book, on the life and times of John Haslet and his Delaware Regiment during the Revolutionary War, is a flat-out winner. It is easy to read, very informative, and enjoyable. This is a must for those who would like to dig deeper into the human side of the war.
Through an intimate narrative of the life of painter John Singleton Copley, award-winning historian Jane Kamensky reveals the world of the American Revolution, rife with divided loyalties and tangled sympathies. Famed today for his portraits of patriot leaders like Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, Copley is celebrated as one of America’s founding artists. But, married to the daughter of a tea merchant and seeking artistic approval from abroad, he could not sever his own ties with Great Britain. Copley’s refusal to choose sides cost him dearly. Yet to this day, his towering artistic legacy remains shared by America and Britain alike.
The fate of the American Revolution had yet to be decided when a remarkable 21-year-old Frenchman arrived in America. Louis-François-Bertrand, the Count of Lauberdière, belonged to an old noble family that traced its heritage back to the Crusades. His father, François-Charles-Mathieu, was musketeer of the guard of King Louis XV. More important, his uncle was General Rochambeau, the commander of all French forces in America. With its expertly crafted footnotes, maps, and illustrations, The French Campaigns in the American Revolution, 1780-1783: The Diary of Count of Lauberdière, General Rochambeau’s Nephew and Aide-de-Camp offers a fresh and invigorating firsthand account that will satisfy even the most demanding student of the American Revolution.
In Occupied America, Donald F. Johnson chronicles the everyday experience of ordinary people living under military occupation during the American Revolution. Focusing on day-to-day life in port cities held by the British Army, Johnson recounts how men and women from a variety of backgrounds navigated harsh conditions, mitigated threats to their families and livelihoods, took advantage of new opportunities, and balanced precariously between revolutionary and royal attempts to secure their allegiance. As Johnson argues, the quotidian experience of military occupation directly affected the outcome of the American Revolution.
By the time he was thirty, Dr. Benjamin Rush had signed the Declaration of Independence, edited Common Sense, toured Europe as Benjamin Franklin’s protégé, and become John Adams’s confidant, and was soon to be appointed Washington’s surgeon general. And as with the greatest Revolutionary minds, Rush was only just beginning his role in 1776 in the American experiment. As the new republic coalesced, he became a visionary writer and reformer; a medical pioneer whose insights and reforms revolutionized the treatment of mental illness, and an opponent of slavery and prejudice by race, religion, or gender. Rush reveals his singular life and towering legacy, installing him in the pantheon of our wisest and boldest Founding Fathers.
In the spirit of Black Lives Matter and the hit movie “Black Panther” comes a new & exciting, action packed series of African American soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War. Valley Forge was America’s darkest yet most heroic hour. The birth of a new nation hinged on so few soldiers whose suffering and dedication continued the struggle that we as a nation owe our deepest thanks. Did you know that one in ever five of those men who looked upon George Washington, enduring incredible hardships, was African American? We assumed that the American Army was white – but when the sunshine soldier went home, black soldiers remainedu – for the duration of the war. Join Josiah and fellow bondsmen as they fight, they endure, and many die striving for their rightful share of a new nation’s promise – a promise disguised in many Shades of Liberty.
Book 2, of the Shades of Liberty Series, finds Josiah and fellow runaway slaves, now Continental Soldiers, embroiled in a desperate battle to save a third of Washington’s army trapped in New York City. Join Josiah and his friends as they fight Hessian Jaeger Huntsmen, join the famed Knowlton Rangers, and battle both British Highlanders and the bigotry and racism rampant among their own soldiers, from private to the highest ranking officers. Harry Schenawolf spins an exciting tale based on actual events, meticulous research, and real life founders whose desperate fight for America’s Independence embodies the cultural mix of all races to which we as a nation are proudly thankful.
Lasting nine weeks in 1781, the Battle of Pensacola was the conclusion of Spain’s aggressive military campaign to seize the Gulf Coast from Great Britain. Drawing from a variety of sources, Wesley S. Odom’s The Longest Siege of the American Revolution: Pensacola, provides the most comprehensive and analytical look at this obscure but decisive battle. Complete with previously unpublished maps, artwork and detailed chronology, this historic account is thrilling and insightful.
Taking place during the most critical period of our nation’s birth, The First Conspiracy tells a remarkable and previously untold piece of American history that not only reveals George Washington’s character, but also illuminates the origins of America’s counterintelligence movement that led to the modern day CIA. In 1776, an elite group of soldiers were handpicked to serve as George Washington’s bodyguards. Washington trusted them; relied on them. But unbeknownst to Washington, some of them were part of a treasonous plan. In the months leading up to the Revolutionary War, these traitorous soldiers, along with the Governor of New York, William Tryon, and Mayor David Mathews, launched a deadly plot against the most important member of the military: George Washington himself.
The battles of Trenton and Princeton have been the subject of several recent books, but this story complements them by expanding the story to include the many experiences of the people of Princeton in the wider Revolution and their contributions to it. Readers can identify with real people they get to know in the story. This story of Princeton unfolds in narrative format and, while deeply researched, reads more like a novel than an academic study.
The extraordinary life of James Monroe: soldier, senator, diplomat, and the last Founding Father to hold the presidency, a man who helped transform thirteen colonies into a vibrant and mighty republic. Critically acclaimed author Tim McGrath has consulted an extensive array of primary sources, many rarely seen since Monroe’s own time, to conjure up this fascinating portrait of an essential American statesman and president.
Hercules is President George Washington’s chef, is a fixture on the Philadelphia scene. He is famous for both his culinary prowess and for ruling his kitchen like a commanding general. Even while he masterfully manages his kitchen and the lives of those in and around it, Hercules harbors secrets– including the fact that he is learning to read and that he is involved in a dangerous affair with Thelma, a mixed-race woman, who, passing as white, works as a companion to the daughter of one of Philadelphia’s most prestigious families. Eventually Hercules’ carefully crafted intrigues fall apart and he finds himself trapped by his circumstance and the will of George Washington. Based on actual historical events and people, follow Hercules’ precarious and terrifying bid for freedom.
While the American Revolution led to domestic peace and liberty, it ultimately had a catastrophic global impact—it strengthened the British Empire and led to widespread persecution and duress. This is the first exploration of the profound and often catastrophic impact the American Revolution had on the rest of the world. Matthew Lockwood presents, in vivid detail, the neglected story of this unintended revolution. It sowed the seeds of collapse for the preeminent empires of the early modern era, setting the stage for the global domination of Britain, Russia, and the United States.
Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette shared a singularly extraordinary friendship, one involved in the making of two revolutions―and two nations. Jefferson first met Lafayette in 1781, when the young French-born general was dispatched to Virginia to assist Jefferson, then the state’s governor, in fighting off the British. When Jefferson, a newly-appointed diplomat, moved to Paris three years later, speaking little French and in need of a partner, their friendship began in earnest. As Lafayette opened doors in Paris and Versailles for Jefferson, so too did the Virginian stand by Lafayette as the Frenchman became inexorably drawn into the maelstrom of his country’s revolution. Locked away in prisons, the burden fell on Jefferson, along with Lafayette’s other friends, to win his release. The two would not see each other again until 1824, in a powerful and emotional reunion at Jefferson’s Monticello.
Popular historian and former White House speechwriter Jonathan Horn tells the astonishing true story of George Washington’s forgotten last years—the personalities, plotting, and private torment that unraveled America’s first post-presidency. A vivid story, immaculately researched and powerfully told through the eyes not only of Washington but also of his family members, friends, and foes, Washington’s End fills a crucial gap in our nation’s history and will forever change the way we view the name Washington.
At the time of the Revolutionary War, a fifth of the Colonial population was African American. By 1779, 15 percent of the Continental Army were former slaves, while the Navy recruited both free men and slaves. More than 5000 black Americans fought for independence in an integrated military–it would be the last until the Korean War. The majority of Indian tribes sided with the British yet some Native Americans rallied to the American cause and suffered heavy losses. This history recounts the sacrifices made by forgotten people of color to gain independence for the people who enslaved and extirpated them.
Over eight years of war, ordinary Americans accomplished something extraordinary. Far from the actions of the Continental Congress and the Continental Army, they took responsibility for the course of the revolution. They policed their neighbors, sent troops and weapons to distant strangers committed to the same cause, and identified friends and traitors. By taking up the reins of power but also setting its limits, they ensured America’s success. The driving force behind the creation of a country based on the will of the people, T. H. Breen shows, was in fact the people itself. In villages, towns, and cities from Georgia to New Hampshire, Americans managed local affairs, negotiated shared sacrifice, and participated in a political system in which each believed they were as good as any other.
During the Revolutionary War, Rufus Putnam served as the Continental Army’s chief military engineer. As designer and supervisor of the construction of major fortifications, his contribution helped American forces drive the British Army from Boston and protect the Hudson River. Several years after the War, Putnam personally founded the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory at Marietta, Ohio. Putnam’s influence and vote prevented the introduction of slavery in Ohio, leading the way for Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin to enter the U.S. as free states.
From 1778 to 1788, the Founding Father and later President John Adams lived in Europe as a diplomat. Joined by his wife, Abigail, in 1784, the two shared rich encounters with famous heads of the European royal courts, including the ill-fated King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette, and the staid British Monarchs King George III and Queen Charlotte. After just a short time abroad, Abigail maintained that, “My Heart and Soul is more American than ever. We are a family by ourselves.” The Adamses’ quest to define what it means to be an American, and the answers they discovered in their time abroad, still resonate with us to this day.
A startling and eye-opening look into America’s First Family, Never Caught is the powerful story about a daring woman of “extraordinary grit. When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left behind his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in Philadelphia, the temporary seat of the nation’s capital. In setting up his household he brought along nine slaves, including Ona Judge. As the President grew accustomed to Northern ways, there was one change he couldn’t abide: Pennsylvania law required enslaved people be set free after six months of residency in the state. Rather than comply, Washington decided to circumvent the law. Every six months he sent the slaves back down south just as the clock was about to expire. A crisp and compulsively readable feat of research and storytelling, historian and National Book Award finalist Erica Armstrong Dunbar weaves a powerful tale and offers fascinating new scholarship on how one young woman risked everything to gain freedom from the famous founding father.
In this masterful narrative, Winston Groom brings his signature storytelling panache to the tale of our nation’s most fascinating founding fathers–Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams–painting a vivid picture of the improbable events, bold ideas, and extraordinary characters who created the United States of America.
With a background section on the Southern theater in 1780, and a summary outlining the lives and careers of its important officers, To the End of the World is a carefully documented and beautifully written account of this extraordinary chapter of American history. The book not only showcases the incredible dramatics of the American Revolution’s “Great Escape,” but also provides a compelling look at the psychological and intellectual distinctions between its two great generals, Greene and Cornwallis.
The British Legion was one of the most remarkable regiments, not only of the American Revolution, but of any war. A corps made up of American Loyalists, it saw its first action in New York and then engaged in almost every battle in the Southern colonies. Led by a twenty-four-year-old libertine who purchased his commission to escape enormous gambling debts, the Legion gained notoriety for its ruthless tactics. Excelling in “special operations,” they frequently overwhelmed the Continental forces they fought, becoming the most feared British regiment of the war. War at Saber Point: Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion is the enthralling story of those forgotten Americans and the young Englishman who led them.
This is a highly detailed study of the German auxiliary troops who fought for Britain in the American Revolutionary War and won a distinguished reputation on a host of battlefields. Fully illustrated, this lively study examines the organization, appearance, weapons, and equipment of the Hessen-Cassel troops who fought for King George in the American Revolutionary War.
Although much has been written about Arnold’s famous fall from grace, this book is the story of a charismatic man of vaulting ambition. With new research and photographs, it delves into his last twenty years. Arnold remains an object of fascination as a toppled hero and a flagrant traitor. Another American general wrote in the 1780s that Arnold “never does anything by halves.” Indeed, he lived on a big scale. This study documents each of the various points of the globe where the restless Arnold operated and lived, pursuing wealth, status, and redemption.
The America of the early Republic was built on an experiment, a hopeful prophecy that would only be fulfilled if an enlightened people could find its way through its past and into a future. Americans recognized that its promises would only be fully redeemed at a future date. In Revolutionary Prophecies, renowned historians Robert M. S. McDonald and Peter S. Onuf summon a diverse cast of characters from the founding generationall of whom, in different ways, reveal how their understanding of the past and present shaped hopes, ambitions, and anxieties for or about the future.
