Originally published: 2007.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [653]-661) and index.

"My country, my honor, my life" : bravery and death in war --
pt. 1. Going to war, 1775-1776. "Fear is not an American art" : the coming of the war --
"A loss that is greater than we can bear" : going to war --
Choices, 1775 --
pt. 2. The war in the North, 1776-1779. "Hastening fast to a crisis" : June 1775-June 1776 --
Choices, 1776 --
"Knock him up for the campaign" : the Battle for New York, 1776 --
"This hour of adversity" : to the end of 1776 --
Choices, 1777 --
"The caprice of war" : America's pivotal victory at Saratoga --
"We rallied and broke" : the Campaign for Philadelphia, September-December 1777 --
Choices, 1778 --
"A respectable army" : the grim year, 1778 --
Choices, 1779 --
"A band of brotherhood" : the soldiers, the army, and the forgotten war in 1779 --
"We have occasioned a good deal of terror" : the war at sea --
Choices, 1780 --
pt. 3. The war in the South, 1780-1781. "A year filled with our disgraces" : defeat in the South, 1780 --
"Southern means and Southern exertions" : hope and despair, June-December 1780 --
Choices, 1781 --
"Bloody and severe" : the pivotal Southern war, early 1781--
"We are suspended in the balance" : Spring and Summer 1781--
pt. 4. American victory, 1781-1783. "America is ours" : victory at Yorktown, 1781 --
Choices, 1782 --
"May we have peace in our time" : peace and demobilization, 1782-1783 --
"Little short of a miracle" : accounting for America's victory.

In this gripping chronicle of America's struggle for independence, an award-winning historian transports readers to the grim realities of that war, capturing an eight-year conflict filled with heroism, suffering, cowardice, betrayal, and fierce dedication.

New York American Revolutionary Round Table Best Book of 2007