The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777

Rick Atkinson worked as a journalist at the Washington Post from 1983 to 1999, covering the first Gulf War, conflicts in Somalia and Bosnia, and other major world events. After leaving the Post, Atkinson turned his attention to military history, writing what became the first volume of his Liberation Trilogy, An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943. The Liberation Trilogy, an authoritative account of the US military in World War II, which helped establish his reputation as a leading narrative historian. Like his World War II series, Atkinson chooses to structure his narrative of the American Revolution as a trilogy. The structure of The British Are Coming is a consequence of this decision: The brief Prologue and Epilogue frame the American Revolution in the context of British Empire, while the main body of the story begins shortly before the first shots are fired and ends shortly after Washington’s successful crossing of the Delaware. Though the book covers only the years 1775-1777, Atkinson’s previous works demonstrate his capacity to structure and present a historical, military narrative in this manner.

Atkinson’s approach to history is characterized by his reliance on extensive archival research and his commitment to grounding large-scale events in the lived experiences of individuals.