A biography of America's first Renaissance man discusses Benjamin Franklin's diverse roles as a scientist, businessman, philosopher, writer, inventor, diplomat, politician, wit, and Founding Father.

Looks at the history of the United States during the period before, during, and after the Revolutionary War, especially focusing on the circumstances in colonial life that led Americans to fight for their independence from Britain.

Dramatization of the writing and signing of the Declaration of Independence.

A Southern historian challenges traditional interpretations of the Founding Fathers. "You think you know about the Founding Fathers, but did you know : The Founders were right-wingers by today's standards --- for gun rights, limited government, and religion in public life ; The Founders waged a War of Independence, not a revolution ; Is America a democracy? The Founders regarded the very idea of democratic government with scorn ; 'A nation of immigrants'?...

"Do you know what's actually in the full Declaration of Independence? How it was written? What was happening at the time? How to read the formal language? Don't worry! Because now, in The Side-by-Side Declaration of Independence, kid patriots (and grown-ups alike!) can tackle the Declaration like never before. Decipher the original text of the Declaration on each left-hand page with help from a "plain English" translation on each right-hand page....

To the framers of the Constitution, political parties were an existential threat to republican virtues. They had suffered the consequences of partisan politics in Britain before the American Revolution, and they wanted nothing similar for America. Yet parties emerged even before the Constitution was ratified, and they took firmer root in the following decade. The first party, the Federalists, formed around Alexander Hamilton and his efforts to overthrow...

"Told through the eyes of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Great Britain's King George III, Killing England chronicles the path to independence in gripping detail, taking the reader from the battlefields of America to the royal courts of Europe. What started as protest and unrest in the colonies soon escalated to a world war with devastating casualties. O'Reilly and Dugard recreate the war's landmark battles, including Bunker...

Meet the men who shaped the dramatic story of the U.S. Constitution.

"Winning Independence is the dramatic story of how and why Great Britain--so close to regaining several southern colonies and rendering the postwar United States a fatally weak nation--ultimately failed to win the war. The book explores the choices and decisions made by Clinton and Washington, and others, that ultimately led the French and American allies to clinch the pivotal victory at Yorktown that at long last secured American independence." --...

"The remarkable story of Benjamin Rush, medical pioneer and one of our nation's most provocative and unsung Founding Fathers ... One of the youngest signatories [of the Declaration of Independence] ... he was also, among stiff competition, one of the most visionary. A brilliant physician and writer, Rush was known as the "American Hippocrates" for pioneering national healthcare and revolutionizing treatment of mental illness and addiction. Yet medicine...