 | Montcalm and Wolfe: The French and Indian War by Francis Parkman
Buy new: $18.96 / Used from: $2.42 The classic 19th Century history of the French and Indian War
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 | Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766 by Fred Anderson
Buy new: $14.96 / Used from: $5.88 A complete history of the French and Indian War and the tensions it created between Americans and Britons
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 | Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence by Garry Wills
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $4.21 Wills explains everything.
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 | Thomas Paine : Collected Writings : Common Sense / The Crisis / Rights of Man / The Age of Reason / Pamphlets, Articles, and Letters (Library of America) by Thomas Paine
Buy new: $23.10 / Used from: $17.00 We would not be here but for the writing of this failed corset maker. He turned out to be a jerk (The Age of Reason), but he was our jerk.
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 | Washington's Crossing (Pivotal Moments in American History) by David Hackett Fischer
Buy new: $23.10 / Used from: $3.00 Perhaps the best written book on this list. It's about much more than the battles of Trenton and Princeton.
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 | The Philadelphia Campaign, 1777-1778 (Modern War Studies) by Stephen R. Taaffe
Buy new: $39.95 / Used from: $13.60 A good workable history of the war from Brandywine through Monmouth.
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 | The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas by John Buchanan
Buy new: $13.57 / Used from: $9.95 A good history of the fratricidal war in the South.
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 | James Madison: Writings: Writings 1772-1836 (Library of America) by James Madison
Buy new: $26.40 / Used from: $17.25 Necessary. Absolutely necessary.
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 | The Federalist Papers (Signet Classics) by Alexander Hamilton
Buy new: $7.95 / Used from: $3.78 The classic.
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 | The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788-1800 by Stanley Elkins
Buy new: $23.07 / Used from: $9.90 The history of 1789-1801. It is cited in almost every other book on this list
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 | Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
Buy new: $10.17 / Used from: $1.00 Finely written sketches of events from the early days of the republic. It must be read in connection with Elkins and McKitrick. Ellis is the better writer but he's not as thorough.
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 | His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis
Buy new: $17.79 / Used from: $1.22 A short biography of the one indespensible man.
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 | John Adams by David McCullough
Buy new: $13.60 / Used from: $0.85 Thorough biography of a great man and a lousy president.
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 | Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Buy new: $23.10 / Used from: $2.05 Another thorough biography of a necessary man who helped draft the constitution, marketed it through the Federalist Papers and established America's credit while Secretary of the Treasury. Tragic.
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 | John Marshall: Definer of a Nation by Jean Edward Smith
Buy new: $16.32 / Used from: $7.59 Although we mostly remember him for his service on the Supreme Court, he was an officer in the Revolution, a commissioner to France in the XYZ Affair, and Adams Sec. of State.
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 | Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, the Rake Who Wrote the Constitution by Richard Brookhiser
Buy new: $17.05 / Used from: $2.28 Another forgotten Federalist, the drafter of the Constitution.
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 | The Americans: The Colonial Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin
Buy new: $10.85 / Used from: $0.28 You know you need some social history
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 | The Americans: The National Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin
Buy new: $12.21 / Used from: $1.37 Same as above.
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 | Jonathan Edwards: A Life by George M. Marsden
Buy new: $14.96 / Used from: $11.90 The congregationalist author of "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and Burr's grandfather.
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 | Burr: A Novel by Gore Vidal
Buy new: $10.85 / Used from: $3.72 A rollicking good read. I just love the book.
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Listmania!
