Books like The journal of William Thomas Emerson, a Revolutionary War patriot by Barry Denenberg

Set in a Tory town during the American Revolutionary War, the novel follows the Meeker family as one son joins the rebels while the rest try to remain neutral, uncovering the cost of loyalty and family ties.

A Pulitzer‑winning historical novel that dramatizes the four‑day Battle of Gettysburg from the viewpoints of Union and Confederate leaders.

David McCullough’s *1776* chronicles the human drama surrounding the American Revolution’s pivotal year, tracing ordinary soldiers, notable leaders, and British forces as they shape the fate of the fledgling nation.

Teenage slave Isabel navigates the American Revolution in New York, using her wit and the help of a Patriot spy to fight for her and her sister’s freedom.

A richly detailed biography that traces John Adams’s rise from Revolutionary patriot to the United States’ second President, highlighting his political convictions, marriage to Abigail Adams, and lasting impact on American governance.

After the 1918 influenza epidemic, eleven‑year‑old Lydia Pierce and her fourteen‑year‑old brother are sent by their uncle to grow up in the Shaker community at Sabbathday Lake in Maine.

A spirited fourteen‑year‑old orphan named Hannah secures a servant position in a wealthy Boston household, discovers a portrait painter with uncanny knowledge of her past, and finds herself drawn to the sea during a summer in Maine.

Young Minnie Swift chronicles a Christmas season in the Great Depression, exposing Midwestern family struggles and resilience through her diary entries.

In 1968, fifteen‑year‑old Molly Mackenzie Flaherty chronicles her longing for her brother Patrick, who has gone to Vietnam, while volunteering at a Veterans’ Administration Hospital and grappling with the war’s impact on her life in Boston.

The boyhood of the colonial Boston lad who became a renowned silversmith and great patriot of the Revolution, with his ride which warned that the British were coming.

A graphic‑novel biography of Benjamin Franklin, showcasing his life as an American inventor, statesman, diplomat and one of the nation's founding fathers.

A teenage girl with Down syndrome seeks safety in Chicago during the Great Fire of 1871.

Raphael explains the central purpose of his "people's history" thusly: "By uncovering the stories of farmers, artisans, and laborers, we discern how plain folk helped create a revolution strong enough to evict the British Empire from the thirteen colonies. And by digging deeper still, we learn how people with no political standing -- women, Native Americans, African Americans -- altered the shape of a war conceived by others." After carefully reconstructing the histories of all these groups, he concludes: "The story of our nation's founding, told so often from the perspective of the 'founding fathers,' will never ring true unless it can take some account of the Massachusetts farmers who closed the courts, the poor men and boys who fought the battles, the women who followed the troops, the loyalists who viewed themselves as rebels, the pacifists who refused to sign oaths of allegiance, the Native Americans who struggled for their own independence, the southern slaves who fled to the British, the northern slaves who negotiated their freedom by joining the Continental Army". Raphael's account rings true: these people made the American Revolution. - Marcus Rediker, University of Pittsburgh.

Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady, R.M.S. Titanic 1912 (Dear America Series)

A sixteen‑year‑old orphan's wartime diary chronicles the experiences of his Union Army unit during the American Civil War.

Teenaged Sarah Jane, orphaned in 1881 Nebraska by a deadly disease, takes up teaching to survive and chronicles her early school years in a diary.

In the waning days of Spanish California, María Rosalía, a Mestizo servant and orphan, records her life and the region’s loss to America in a personal diary.

A thirteen‑year‑old orphan’s diary chronicles his perilous 1845 wagon journey on the Oregon Trail, detailing rivers, plains, wildlife and the camaraderie of fellow pioneers.

Emma’s hand‑drawn journal chronicles her life in Boston from 1774 to 1776, detailing the British blockade, her covert activities for the American militia, and the everyday happenings of colonial life.

Boston Jane follows the adventures of a young woman from Philadelphia who ventures into the untamed Pacific Northwest, facing sea voyages, frontier hardships, and personal growth.