Presents an account of a critical turning point in history, the battles which plunged the thirteen colonies into war with Great Britain, a war known as the American Revolution.

Describes the first battles of the Revolutionary War, the events leading up to the conflict, and the effect of helping the thirteen British colonies pull together for a common cause.

According to the traditional telling, the American Revolution began with "the shot heard 'round the world." But the people started taking action earlier than many think. The First American Revolution uses the wide-angle lens of a people's historian to tell a surprising new story of America's revolutionary struggle. In the years before the battle of Lexington and Concord, local people-men and women of common means but of uncommon courage-overturned...

"For years, the relationship between Great Britain and the American colonists had been wearing thin. Colonists felt they were being treated unfairly. The British thought they were putting down a rebellion. On April 19, 1775, the two sides clashed at Lexington and Concord. The American Revolution was about to begin. Now readers can step back in time to learn about what led up to the battles, how the historic events unfolded, and the ways in which one...