Published posthumously on the occasion of America's centennial celebration, George Lippard's Washington and His Generals, &“1776&” compiles into a single volume his five popular books of Revolutionary-era historical fiction. The first book, &“The Battle-Day of Germantown,&” features Lippard's hometown and George Washington's intricate and ultimately overcomplicated assault on the British during the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolution.&“The Wissahikon,&” the second book, depicts the defecting of a Tory to the rebel cause after witnessing General William Howe's failed attempt to bribe a pious George Washington following the British capture of Philadelphia. In &“Benedict Arnold,&” the infamous treachery of the treasonous Continental Army general is the subject. With &“The Battle of the Brandywine,&” Lippard recounts the American despair over the September 11, 1777, battle that drove back the Continental forces, leaving the capital in Philadelphia under British occupation. The collection ends with the fifth book, &“The Fourth of July, 1776,&” his imagined version of the day that inspired most of Lippard's patriotic writing. It includes the often quoted &"Speech of the Unknown&" given by an anonymous revolutionary, which in the book provided the final impetus for the delegates to sign the Declaration of Independence.

When the Revolutionary War began, Congress established a national army and appointed George Washington its commander in chief. Congress then took it upon itself to choose numerous subordinate generals to lead the army’s various departments, divisions, and brigades. How this worked out in the end is well known. Less familiar, however, is how well Congress’s choices worked out along the way. Although historians have examined many of Washington’s subordinates, Washington’s Revolutionary War Generals is the first book to look at these men in a collective, integrated manner. A thoroughgoing study of the Revolutionary War careers of the Continental Army’s generals—their experience, performance, and relationships with Washington and the Continental Congress—this book provides an overview of the politics of command, both within and outside the army, and a unique perspective on how it affected Washington’s prosecution of the war. It is impossible to understand the outcome of the War for Independence without first examining America’s military leadership, author Stephen R. Taaffe contends. His description of Washington’s generals—who they were, how they received their commissions, and how they performed—goes a long way toward explaining how these American officers, who were short on experience and military genius, prevailed over their professional British counterparts. Following these men through the war’s most important battles and campaigns as well as its biggest controversies, such as the Conway Cabal and the Newburgh Conspiracy, Taaffe weaves a narrative in the grand tradition of military history. Against this backdrop, his depiction of the complexities and particulars of character and politics of military command provides a new understanding of George Washington, the War for Independence, and the U.S. military’s earliest beginnings. A unique combination of biography and institutional history shot through with political analysis, this book is a thoughtful, deeply researched, and an eminently readable contribution to the literature of the Revolution.

Jefferson Davis is a historical figure who provokes strong passions among scholars. Through the years historians have place him at both ends of the spectrum: some have portrayed him as a hero, others have judged him incompetent.

A leading military expert looks at America's state of perpetual war, and offers solutions such as civilian control of the military and the use of a "Global Security Index" to determine if intervention is truly necessary.