In his epic new book, REVOLUTION SONG, Russell Shorto takes us back to the founding of the American nation, drawing on diaries, letters, and autobiographies to flesh out six lives that cast the era in a fresh new light.

In his epic new book, REVOLUTION SONG, Russell Shorto takes us back to the founding of the American nation, drawing on diaries, letters and autobiographies to flesh out six lives that cast the era in a fresh new light.

They include an African man who freed himself and his family from slavery, a rebellious young woman who abandoned her abusive husband to chart her own course and a certain Mr. Washington, who was admired for his social graces but harshly criticized for his often-disastrous military strategy.

Through these lives we understand that the revolution was fought over the meaning of individual freedom, a philosophical idea that became a force for violent change. A powerful narrative and a brilliant defense of American values, REVOLUTION SONG makes the compelling case that the American Revolution is still being fought today and that its ideals are worth defending.

Russell Shorto’s work has been praised as “first-rate intellectual history” (Wall Street Journal), “literary alchemy” (Chicago Tribune) and simply “astonishing” (New York Times). Shorto writes books of narrative history; believes history is most meaningful to us when it manifests itself through individuals in conflict. His books have been published in fourteen languages and have won numerous awards. He is a senior scholar at the New Netherland Institute and a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine. His interests include the past, the present and the future, not necessarily in that order.