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===Top Ten===

1. Pauline Maier, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679779086/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0679779086&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=c48c6171cfb13d967325ab6a420f445b American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence]</i> (Vintage Books, 2012) - Maier's book does a masterful job both explaining the origins of the Declaration of Independence and how the Second Continental Congress transformed itself into a national government. Maier's book may be the best book about the Declaration of Independence. It is absolutely essential if you want to understand why the Declaration of Independence was created and what it was designed to accomplish.

2. Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300209401/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0300209401&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=4ab2c38262edd1bd2396d23fcc0a9136 The Men Who Lost America:British Leadership, the American Revolution and the Fate of the Empire]</i> (Yale University Press, 2013) - How did the British Empire lose the American colonies? Instead of being undermined by their leaders or military commanders, O'Shaughnessy focuses on the British side of the war to understand what ultimately undermined their campaign against the colonies. Not surprisingly, he discovers a fascinating story where internal British political and economic concerns, the doggedness of the revolutionaries, and the distance between Britain and the colonies slowly degraded the ability and the willingness of the British to continue fighting.