The Cause

Think the American Revolution was a unified fight for freedom? Think again. Discover the messy, contradictory, and deeply human story behind the birth of the United States, and see how the divisions and discontents of the past are still shaping the nation today. You'll go beyond the heroic myths to explore the complex motivations and conflicting agendas of the key players. Uncover how the fight for liberty coexisted with the institution of slavery, why Native Americans were systematically excluded, and how the unresolved arguments of the 1770s laid the groundwork for the political battles you see in the headlines.

Joseph J. Ellis is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and one of America's foremost scholars of the revolutionary era, renowned for his penetrating studies of the founding fathers. After a long and distinguished career teaching American history at the collegiate level, Ellis now dedicates his focus to writing, bringing the complex and often contradictory motives of the revolutionary generation to a broader audience. His work demystifies the past, revealing the human struggles and profound debates that shaped the nation.