Want to deepen your knowledge of the United States’ founding ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary? These books, selected by Stanford history professors, provide a nuanced examination of the events and circumstances surrounding the birth of democracy.

America’s first bestseller

Common Sense by Thomas Paine (1776)

“Published six months before the Declaration of Independence, this pamphlet was the first bestseller in American history. It explained to the American colonists why King George III was tyrannical and why independence from Britain was the path forward. To me, it stands as one of the most influential books in American history.”

—Caroline Winterer, the William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies and chair of the Department of History

A prescient peek

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville (1835)

“I think this book is the single most incisive, thought-provoking thing ever written about American society. Its relevance to understanding the characteristics of this society two centuries on is uncanny. De Tocqueville is trying to envision the future, not just of America, but of the democratic future that he believes awaits all Western societies. I’ve probably read it half a dozen times and I learn something new each time.”

—David Kennedy, the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Emeritus; former director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West

How to rule the unruly

The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson by Bernard Bailyn (Harvard University Press, 1974)

“None of the mainland colonies in British North America proved more difficult to govern than Massachusetts Bay. The best explanation of why Massachusetts was so unruly appears inthis politically astute biography, which is the most psychologically nuanced study of a political leader that I have ever read.”

—Jack Rakove, the William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies, Emeritus, and professor of political science.

Sacred doctrine

American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence by Pauline Maier (Penguin Random House, 1977)

“This elegant book offers a richly textured account of the making of the Declaration of Independence and its unusual afterlives, as it was neglected and then revived years later.”

—Jonathan Gienapp, associate professor of history and of law

Framers in arrears

Principle and Interest: Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Debt by Herbert Sloan (Oxford University Press, 1995)

“Among all the revolutionary founders, Thomas Jefferson remains the one who receives the most attention. My favorite study of this complex figure analyzes how the master of Monticello thought about both public debt and the ruinous obligations and personal expenditures that left him perpetually in hock to his creditors.”

—Jack Rakove

Inside the Crown’s campaign

The Men Who Lost America: British Command during the Revolutionary War and the Preservation of the Empire by Andrew O’Shaugnessy (Yale University Press, 2013)

“American readers know a great deal about the leaders of our Revolution, but not very much about the crucial decision-makers on the other side. That will no longer be the case after reading Andrew O’Shaughnessy’s book, The Men Who Lost America: British Command during the Revolutionary War and the Preservation of the Empire (2013), the winner of no fewer than nine prizes.”

—Jack Rakove

Through the eyes of the outsiders

Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution by Kathleen DuVal (Penguin Random House, 2015)

“Most histories of the Revolution emphasize events taking place in the great port towns from Boston to Charleston and along the lines of combat where British and American forces clashed. But the Revolution had profound consequences across the eastern half of North America. In this sweeping survey of the lands along the Gulf of Mexico, DuVal examines how the Revolution affected Native Americans, enslaved and freed African Americans, Cajun settlers and their Spanish governors, and the British colonists who remained loyal to the Crown.”

—Jack Rakove

America’s second founding

Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction by Kate Masur (W.W. Norton, 2022)

“This rich and rewarding book chronicles the early and largely unknown struggle to combat racially discriminatory laws following America’s founding, shedding new light on America’s ‘second founding’ following the Civil War.”

—Jonathan Gienapp