Changes

5. John Ferling, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195382927/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0195382927&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=6c52d967e3cdd801e16d873e3ab2e74a Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence]</i> (Oxford University Press, 2009) Ferling's single volume history of the American Revolution explores how the nascent national government defeated the British. Ultimately, the colonies and George Washington wore down the British and forced them out of the former colonies. Ferling book is fantastic place to start learning about the American Revolution.

6. David Hackett Fischer, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019518159X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=019518159X&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=5818ac0be2c251f25f73965bad4c98ac Washington's Crossing]</i> (Oxford University Press, 2005) - Fischer's Washington Crossing also won the Pulitzer Prize for history. Instead of looking at the entire revolutionary war, Fischer focuses on Washington's crossing of the Delaware and the defeat of the Hessian soldiers in Trenton. Washington's victory was critical for the survival of the American colonies and Fischer's book explores the people (on both sides) who were involved in this military action. He shows how small actions by different actors on both sides can alter the course of history.

7. Elizabeth A. Fenn, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080907821X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=080907821X&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=6f39738f10bcf0aeac1b3015f4d00750 Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82]</i> (Hill and Wang, 2002) - Just as the American Revolution was a beginning a smallpox outbreak began causing chaos and death across the colonies. Fenn describes how the smallpox outbreak almost destroyed Washington's colonial army and spread throughout the colonies during the war. Washington desperate decision to inoculate his troops at Valley Forge saved his troops and the colonies's hopes of independence. After Valley Forge, the smallpox epidemic devastated the slaves who joined the British forces and wiped out Native Americans at the edge of the colonies. Fenn shows the role smallpox played in United State's drive for independence.