Fiction for the Fourth

Most people have big plans for the Fourth of July.  Some will cook out or go eat barbecue at a restaurant.  Baseball fans may head to Regions Field to watch the Birmingham Barons take on the Tennessee Smokies.  Many will attend Thunder on the Mountain or safely shoot off fireworks in approved locations under adult supervision.  Another option is to reflect on the history of Independence Day.  Consider taking a journey into the past through these historical novels about the American Revolution.  Descriptions are from the publisher.

The Fort by Bernard Cornwell

While the major fighting of the war moves to the south in the summer of 1779, a British force of fewer than a thousand Scottish infantry sails to the desolate and fog-bound coast of New England.  In response, Massachusetts sends a fleet of more than forty vessels and some one thousand infantrymen to "captivate, kill or destroy" the foreign invaders.  But ineptitude and irresolution lead to a mortifying defeat--and have stunning repercussions for two men on opposite sides: an untested eighteen-year-old Scottish lieutenant named John Moore and a Boston silversmith and patriot named Paul Revere.

The Glorious Cause by Jeff Shaara

It was never a war in which the outcome was obvious. Despite their spirit and stamina, the colonists were outmanned and outfought by the brazen British army. General George Washington found his troops trounced in the battles of Brooklyn and Manhattan and retreated toward Pennsylvania. With the future of the colonies at its lowest ebb, Washington made his most fateful decision: to cross the Delaware River and attack the enemy. The stunning victory at Trenton began a saga of victory and defeat that concluded with the British surrender at Yorktown, a moment that changed the history of the world.

Redcoat by Bernard Cornwell

It is autumn 1777, and the cradle of liberty, Philadelphia, has fallen to the British. Yet the true battle has only just begun.  On both sides, loyalties are tested and families torn asunder. The young Redcoat Sam Gilpin has seen his brother die. Now he must choose between duty to a distant king and the call of his own conscience. And for the men and women of the prosperous Becket family, the Revolution brings bitter conflict between those loyal to the crown and those with dreams of liberty. Soon, across the fields of ice and blood in a place called Valley Forge, history will be rewritten, changing the lives and fortunes of these men and women forever.

Rise to Rebellion by Jeff Shaara

In 1770, England’s peacekeeping mission ignites into the Boston Massacre. The senseless killing of civilians leads to a tumultuous trial in which lawyer John Adams must defend the very enemy who has assaulted and abused the laws he holds sacred.  The taut courtroom drama soon broadens into a stunning epic of war as King George III leads a reckless and corrupt government in London toward the escalating abuse of his colonies. Outraged by the increasing loss of their liberties, an extraordinary gathering of America’s most inspiring characters confronts the British presence with the ideals that will change history.