American Revolution : people and perspectives / Andrew K. Frank, editor ; Peter C. Mancall, series editor.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [293]-312) and index.

Independence on the land: small farmers and the American Revolution / Terry Bouton -- An "epidemical fury of emigration": the flight of the non-English into the Colonies on the eve of the American Revolutionary War / Robyn McMillan -- "Self-evident truths" on trial: African Americans in the American Revolution / Jon Sensbach -- "The times have turned everything topside down": Native Americans and the American Revolution / Andrew K. Frank -- Redcoats, regulators, and the Rattletrap: The backcountry experience during the the American Revolution / Daniel S. Murphree -- "Born in the midst of bloodshed and battles": children during the American Revolution / Elizabeth McKee Williams -- "An exceeding dirty and nasty people": enlisted men in the Continental Army / Andrew C. Lannen -- "Both parties trembled for the Ark of God": Transatlantic Methodism and the American Revolution / Anna M. Lawrence -- "This time of deep affliction and difficulty": the Society of Friends and the American Revolution / A. Glenn Crothers -- A sea of rebellion: maritime workers in the age of the American Revolution / Matthew Raffety -- Ladies of Liberty: the lives of women during the American Revolution / Lisa Ennis -- "Allegiance to a fall'n lord": The Loyalist experience in the American Revolution.

History books are filled with the words and exploits of America's founding fathers: Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and Madison. But what about the farmers and slaves? The women and children? What of those citizens who opposed independence? This comprehensive work reveals that they all had their own distinctive parts to play in the emergence of the United States. American Revolution looks at one of the most significant eras in American history through the eyes of its least famous, least studied citizens. It is an eye-opening collection of essays demonstrating how the wrenching transformation from English colonies to an emerging nation affected Americans from all walks of life. American Revolution features the work of 14 accomplished social historians, whose findings are adding new dimensions to our understanding of the Revolutionary era. But some of the most fascinating contributions to this volume come from the people themselves -- the anecdotes, letters, diaries, journalism, and other documents that convey the experiences of the full spectrum of American society in the mid- to late-18th century (including women, African Americans, Native Americans, immigrants, soldiers, children, laborers, Quakers, sailors, and farmers). - Publisher.