This 248th Independence Day, also known as Fourth of July, marks the historic day American colonists declared their freedom from Great Britain and adopted the Declaration of Independence.
Our Independence Day Reading List highlights the important role of Indigenous Peoples in the evolution of modern America, forgotten stories from America’s past, and revelatory biographies of the country’s founders.
The Rediscovery of America
Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History
Martin Elvis
A sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essential to understanding the evolution of modern America
Thomas Jefferson
A Biography of Spirit and Flesh
Thomas S. Kidd
A revelatory new biography of Thomas Jefferson, focusing on his ethical and spiritual life
Revolutions without Borders
The Call to Liberty in the Atlantic World
Janet Polasky
A sweeping exploration of revolutionary ideas that traveled the Atlantic in the late eighteenth century
The Great New York Fire of 1776
A Lost Story of the American Revolution
Benjamin L. Carp
This is the first book to fully explore the Great Fire of 1776 and why its origins remained a mystery even after the British investigated it in 1776 and 1783
Glorious Lessons
John Trumbull, Painter of the American Revolution
Richard Brookhiser
The complicated life and legacy of John Trumbull, whose paintings portrayed both the struggle and the principles that distinguished America’s founding moment
The Memory of ’76
The Revolution in American History
Michael D. Hattem
The surprising history of how Americans have fought over the meaning and legacy of the Revolution for nearly two and a half centuries