The American Revolution - Annotated Bibliography Example

Annotated Bibliography The American Revolution (1775-1783) James Thatcher, A Military Journal During the American Revolutionary War, from 1775 to 1783 (Richardson & Lord, 1823). This book is a secondary source that provides the details of various aspects of the American Revolutionary War. The author of this book, James Thatcher, practiced surgery in the regiment during the American Revolutionary war. This book expounds the incidents as a first-hand experience by the author, written in first person, thereby possessing great value as a record of the then time period. Numerous historical facts and anecdotes have been mentioned in the book from the original manuscript written by Thatcher during the War1. The intended audience is the common man, whoever has interest in digging up knowledge of the history of America. The book contains the biographical sketches of some of the General Officers that had fought in the War. This is a scholarly source and can be a very good text for studying for academic purposes. This book can be recommended to others for studying. Harry M. Ward, "Going Down Hill": Legacies of the American Revolutionary War (Academica Press,LLC, 2009). The book by Harry M. Ward is an excellent research work by the author that offers facts from the history about the famous American Revolutionary War. This is a research monograph by one of the most distinguished historians of this era. The contents of this book reveal the different aspects of the war in a different light that has not been discovered before. The author in his explanation seems biased towards the negative impacts laid down as an aftermath of the great revolution2. This book spends considerable amount of space in excavating the tragedy from the past and also the effects that can be felt till the present date. This book can be treated as a scholarly source and is good for recommending to students as well as research scholars for the understanding of the adverse implications that hit the civilians during and after a civil war. Robert Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 (USA: Oxford University Press, 2007), 572. This book is an excellent book of the subject history, providing a pictorial description about the conflict between the two powerful nations of the world, i.e, England and America. A vivid description of the eight year long war has been provided by the author, Robert Middlekauff. The different events related to the war, such as, the election of President George Washington to the “Philadelphia Convention of 1787”3, have been elaborated in the accounts of the book. The events have been described from a political form of view as well as independent personal views of the author have been incorporated. The goal of this book is to reveal the glory of the Revolution that America has fought in order to give birth to the American Republic. This book is a secondary scholarly source and should be recommended for studying. John Ferling, Almost A Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence (USA: Oxford University Press, 2009). This book is a chronicle of the war of independence fought by the people of America and the miraculous victory earned by them. The author lays down the grim realities of the War before the readers and also tells them the stories of heroism, leadership and fierce dedication of the military all that have led to the victory. This book is a good scholarly source that allows the readers to have a taste of the past through its accounts reviving the sufferings of the fighters and the sacrifice they made for the homeland4. Although there are several sources to study this history, this book holds a high rank because of the clarity of its depictions and the beauty of the explanations. Woody Holton, Black Americans in the Revolutionary Era: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford/St. Martins, 2009). This book provides an account of the period of American Revolution from a different point of view. The contents are rich with the details of the experiences of the African Americans in that period. Woody Holton, in his book, examines the state of affairs of the Black Americans, the inspiration they derived to fight for the cause of their independence during the revolution and the way in which these people influenced the occurrence of events during the war. The author seems biased towards establishing the cause of the Afro-Americans and the pain they have undergone under the regime of slavery5. This book is a useful source for understanding of the history of American Revolution from a different perspective and can be recommended to the readers. Todd Andrlik, Reporting the Revolutionary War: Before It Was History, It Was News (Sourcebooks, 2012). This book unfolds the realizations and experiences of the people of America during the years of rebellion in the 1770s and the role played by the newspapers in this context. This book aims to present to the readers a description of the feelings of the people who lived the war. The newspapers, such as, the Boston Gazette and the Pennsylvania Journal “fanned the flames of rebellion”6 and moved the civilians to unite with the feelings of patriotism. The author is himself a Revolutionary War activist and provides a neatly crafted account of the real situations of the war torn nation. It contains eyewitness accounts that came in print in the nations across the Atlantic, which aims impart to the readers about the happenings with the similar effect that were experienced by the people of the eighteenth century. This book is a secondary source of information about the Revolution and is recommendable to others for purposeful reading. “The American Revolution, First Phase”, last modified February 7, 2013, http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V1/ch03.htm. This article talks about The American Revolution focusing on the bedrocks of the revolution. The contents of this article describe elaborately the outbreak of the war explaining the causes that led to such a revolt. It talks about the point of time when the American Army took its shape in 1775 and although disintegrated in the beginning, these soldiers were imbibed with the feelings of love for the homeland and devoted themselves to the service of the nation. This is a primary source taken from the Governments Documents Guide7 and is commendable for further reading. The researchers are the primary target of this article who would be interested in studying the historical accounts of the War. “Declaration of Independence”, The Library of Congress, last modified February 7, 2013, http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/DeclarInd.html This article is a primary source of information regarding The American Revolution and talks about the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. This Declaration was approved by “the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania State House”8. This article provides links to the articles related to events according to the dates, which one can read from “the Journals of the Continental Congress”9. This article is an excellent source to the chronology of events that happened during the period of war and aims to keep a record of these events for access in future for studies and researches. One can get all required information from this source about the history of the American Revolution and it is highly recommended that students and researchers browse through the contents of this website. “A Naval History of the American Revolution”, AmericanRevolution, last modified February 7, 2013, http://www.americanrevolution.org/navy/nav17.html As the name suggests, this article discusses about the end of the eight year long war of American Independence. This is an account of the naval operations in the American Revolution. There is an elaborate description of the operations of the navy in the American Army and gives a detailed report of the places in which the operations took place. This is a reliable primary source of information and does not reflect any bias in its presentation. The article reflects the idea that the navy should prepare itself in times of peace so that it can stay “prepared for war by sea”10. This is a scholarly article that intends to educate the readers about the history of the American Revolution and important role played by the navy in protecting the people of the nation. Daniel Krebs, “Useful Enemies: The Treatment of German Prisoners of War During The American War of Independence”, Journal of Military History 77, no. 1 (2013): 9-39 This article is a case study that examines the situation of the prisoners of war during the American Revolution and how they were treated by the revolutionaries in America. The Americans captured thousands of soldiers who were of British and German origin. The Americans converted these enemies into ‘useful enemies’. The article sheds light upon the various ways adopted by the American revolutionaries to boost their efforts in the war by making good use of these prisoner enemies. One of the ways that require mention is that the local people of America started to hire the prisoners as laborers after the War had ended with victory coming to the Americans11. This is a scholarly journal article and is a secondary source of information about the history. This case study is a good source to gain knowledge about the then political situation in America and could be read for gaining deeper insight into the history of the War. References 1. Andrlik, Todd. Reporting the Revolutionary War: Before It Was History, It Was News. Sourcebooks, 2012. 2. “A Naval History of the American Revolution”, AmericanRevolution, last modified February 7, 2013, http://www.americanrevolution.org/navy/nav17.html . 3. Daniel Krebs. “Useful Enemies: The Treatment of German Prisoners of War During The American War of Independence”. Journal of Military History 77, no. 1 (2013): 9-39. 4. “Declaration of Independence”. The Library of Congress. Last modified February 7, 2013, http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/DeclarInd.html. 5. Ferling, John. Almost A Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence. USA: Oxford University Press, 2009. 6. Holton, Woody. Black Americans in the Revolutionary Era: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 7. Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789. USA: Oxford University Press, 2007. 8. “The American Revolution, First Phase”. Last modified February 7, 2013, http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V1/ch03.htm. 9. Thatcher, James. A Military Journal During the American Revolutionary War, from 1775 to 1783. Richardson & Lord, 1823. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=ff8OAAAAYAAJ&dq=american+revolutionary+war&source=gbs_navlinks_s 10. Ward, Harry M. "Going Down Hill": Legacies of the American Revolutionary War. Academica Press,LLC, 2009. Read More