The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789

Jul 6, 2026

A revised and expanded narrative history of the American Revolution from 1763 to 1789, centered on political life with broad attention to its social dimensions. The revised edition extends the story of the original work while strengthening emphasis on social history through targeted updates across multiple chapters, including the British fiscal-military state, popular reactions to British measures, early independence declarations, military medicine, women’s history, American Indians, and reflections on differing war types. The edition adds new sections, a new epilogue, and a bibliography updated since 1982.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages695

Reading Time17 h 50 min

Preface to the Revised Edition

Focus of the Revised Edition

Chapter Revisions and Additions

Acknowledgments

Praise for The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789 “A tour de force. Middlekauff has the admirable ability to capture historical truths in vivid images and memorable phrases. . . . Middlekauff ’s empathy enhances this massive book’s cumulative power. The cause was glorious; the book is too.”—Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post Book World “This is narrative history at its best, written in a conversational and engaging style. . . . A major revision and expansion of a popular history of the American Revolutionary period.”—Library Journal “The reader in search of a wide-ranging overview of the Revolution would be better off turning to . . . more recent works like The Glorious Cause by Robert Middlekauff.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times, in a review of 1776 The Oxford History of the United States David M. Kennedy, General Editor ROBERT MIDDLEKAUFF THE GLORIOUS CAUSE The American Revolution, 1763–1789 JAMES M. MCPHERSON BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM The Civil War Era DAVID M. KENNEDY FREEDOM FROM FEAR The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 JAMES T. PATTERSON GRAND EXPECTATIONS The United States 1945–1974 JAMES T. PATTERSON RESTLESS GIANT The United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore THE GLORIOUS CAUSE The American Revolution 1763–1789 Revised and Expanded Edition ROBERT MIDDLEKAUFF Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 1982, 2005 by Oxford University Press, Inc. This edition first published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 [www.oup.com](www.oup.com) First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 2007 ISBN 978-0-19-531588-2 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Middlekauff, Robert. The glorious cause: the American Revolution, 1763–1789 / Robert Middlekauff.—2nd ed. [p. cm](p. cm).—(The Oxford History of the United States; v. 3) Previous ed. published as v. 2 in series: The Oxford History of the United States. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978 0-19-516247-9 ISBN-10: 0-19-516247-1 1. United States—History—Revolution, 1775–1783. 2. United States—History—Confederation, 1783–1789. I. Title. II. Series. 973.3—dc22 2004016295 E 173.094 vol. 3 [E208] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper For Holly Preface to the Revised Edition When I began this book I was extraordinarily excited by the opportunity to write a narrative on a grand scale of a great event in the history of the United States and of Western Civilization. I still feel that excitement and believe even more strongly now in the possibilities offered by narrative history. This edition of the book remains a narrative, and all of the changes I have made in it extend the story I told in the first edition. The major emphasis of the book continues to be on political life in the Revolution, political life defined very broadly. The revisions, however, fall largely in the category of social history. Those revisions include the following: a section in Chapter 1 on the British fiscal-military state; in Chapter 6, further discussion of the popular responses in mobs

FAQs

What is the main focus of this revised edition of The Glorious Cause?

It remains a narrative history with major emphasis on political life in the Revolution, defined broadly, while revisions largely expand the social history dimension.

Which topics are specifically expanded in the revised chapters?

Revisions include the British fiscal-military state, popular responses such as mobs and riots, early declarations favoring independence, military medicine, women’s history and American Indians, and comparisons of British versus American kinds of war.

What additional materials were added to the revised edition?

The edition includes a new epilogue and an updated bibliography with books published since the original 1982 publication.

Jul 6, 2026

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