Recommended Books

Books Specific to the Ten Crucial Days

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  1. TEN CRUCIAL DAYS: Washington’s Vision for Victory Unfolds by Larry Kidder (Knox, 2019)The most authoritative modern narrative on the Ten Crucial Days. Buy
  2. WASHINGTON'S MARINES: The Origins of the Corps and the American Revolution by Gen. Jason Bohm (Savas Beattie, 2023) Revealing specific unit biography Buy.
  3. THE INDISPENSABLES: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware by Patrick K. O’Donnell (Grove 2021) Buy
  4. THE ROAD TO ASSUNPINK CREEK: Liberty's Desperate Hour and the Ten Crucial Days of the American Revolution by David Price (Knox 2019). Says Patrick K. O’Donnell,“Assembling the best scholarship … Price has rightfully elevated the crucial importance of one of the least remembered battles…” Buy
  5. VICTORY OR DEATH: The Battles of Trenton and Princeton by Mark Maloy (Savas Beatie, 2018) Good overview and great for a self-guided tour. Buy
  6. RESCUING THE REVOLUTION: Unsung Patriot Heroes and the Ten Crucial Days of America's War for Independence by David Price (Knox 2016) Fascinating biographical vignettes about names clouded in history. Buy
  7. TRENTON AND PRINCETON 1776-77: Washington Crosses the Delaware by David Bonk (Osprey 2010) Buy
  8. 1776 by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster, 2006) Buy
  9. WASHINGTON’S CROSSING by David Hackett Fischer (Oxford, 2004) Despite having included some of Stryker's challenged references this is the Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling book on the subject. Buy
  10. THE LONG RETREAT: The Calamitous Defense of New Jersey, 1776 by Arthur S. Lefkowitz (Rutgers, 1998) Buy
  11. THE DAY IS OURS! An Inside View of the Battles of Trenton and Princeton, November 1776-January 1777  by William M. Dwyer (Viking, 1983) ▼Relies heavily on Stryker; written in a thrilling, journalistic style. Buy
  12. THE WINTER SOLDIERS: The Battles for Trenton and Princeton by Richard M. Ketchum. (Doubleday, 1973)▼Relies heavily on Stryker. Good military history for the modern reader Buy
  13. THE BATTLE OF TRENTON/THE BATTLE OF PRINCETON: Two Studies by Samuel Stelle Smith (Philip Freneau 1967) ▼ Buy
  14. THE BATTLES OF TRENTON AND PRINCETON by William S. Stryker (Houghton Mifflin, 1898) ▼The earliest history from which many following works have been based. While detailed, there are unsourced references that are either questionable or have since been proven inaccurate. Still, a must-read for anyone interested in the Ten Crucial Days.  Buy


Overviews, Abridgments, and Essays that pertain to the Ten Crucial Days and the Revolution in New Jersey

Books in this section, and more, are available at Ten Crucial Days Bookshop: Click Here

  1. ENEMY HARASSED: Washington's New Jersey Campaign of 1777 by Jim Stempel (Knox Press) 2023 Buy
  2. TAKING SIDES IN REVOLUTIONARY NEW JERSEY: Caught in the Crossfire by Maxine Lurie (Rutgers) 2022  Buy
  3. UNHAPPY CATASTROPHES: American Revolution in Central New Jersey 1776 - 1782 by Robert Dunkley (Savas Beatie) 2022 Buy
  4. VALLEY FORGE TO MONMOUTH: Six Transformative Months of the American Revolution by Jim Stempel (McFarland) 2021 Buy
  5. PRINCETON 1774 -1783: The Biography of an American Town in the Heart of a Civil War by William L. Kidder Knox 2020) Buy
  6. NEW JERSEY IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION edited by Barbara J. Mitnick (Rutgers, 2005) Buy
  7. A PEOPLE HARASSED AND EXHAUSTED: The Story of a New Jersey Militia Regiment in the American Revolution by Larry Kidder (Kidder, 2013) Buy
  8. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION IN NEW JERSEY: Where the Battlefront Meets the Home Front edited by James J. Gigantino II (Rutgers, 2015) Buy
  9. FATAL SUNDAY: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle by Mark Edward Lender and Garry Wheeler Stone Ph.D (Univ OK 2016) Award-winning narrative on the largest battle fought in the northern theater of the revolution. Buy
  10. CROSSROADS OF THE REVOLUTION: Trenton, 1774-1783 by William L. "Larry" Kidder (Knox, 2017)Meticulously researched history of Trenton; rich background on how this important colonial town survived the revolution. Buy
  11. WILLIAM LIVINGSTON'S AMERICAN REVOLUTION by James J Gigantino II, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) Well-written insight into the man and New Jersey. Buy 


General Histories of the Revolution: All in OneMost of the books in this section can be found at the Ten Crucial Days Bookshop.org, Click Here

  1. WINNING INDEPENDENCE: The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778-1781 by John Ferling (Bloomsbury) 2021 Buy
  2. THE BRITISH ARE COMING by Rick Atkinson (Holt 2019) Buy
  3. THEATERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION   James Kirby Martin and David L. Preston, Editors (Westholme 2017) Buy
  4. WASHINGTON'S IMMORTALS: The Untold Story of an Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolution by Patrick K. O’Donnell (Grove 2017) Buy
  5. AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS:A Continental History, 1750-1804by Alan Taylor (WW Norton 2016) Buy
  6. BAND OF GIANTS: The Amateur Soldiers Who Won America's Independence by Jack Kelly (Macmillan 2014) Buy
  7. THE MEN WHO LOST AMERICA: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire by Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy (Yale 2013) Buy
  8. ALMOST A MIRACLE: The American Victory in the War of Independence by John Ferling (Oxford 2007) Buy
  9. THE GLORIOUS CAUSE: The American Revolution, 1763-1789by Robert Middlekauff (Oxford 2007) Buy

Books for Young Readers about the Ten Crucial Days and the Revolution Listed by Age Group

Books listed in this section, and more, can be found at the Ten Crucial Days Bookshop.org shelf; click here.

  1. CROSSING THE DELAWARE: George Washington Fights the Battle of Trenton by Arlen Dean (Rosen 2004, Ages 5 – 9) Buy
  2. WHEN WASHINGTON CROSSED THE DELAWARE by Lynne Cheney (Simon & Schuster 2012, Ages 5 – 9) Buy
  3. REVOLUTIONARY WAR ON WEDNESDAY: Magic Tree House #22 by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House 2000, Ages 6 – 9) Buy
  4. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION FOR KIDS: A History with 21 Activities by Janis Herbert (Chicago Review 2002) (Ages 6 – 9) Buy
  5. IF YOU WERE A KID DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION by Wil Mara (Scholastic 2016) (Ages 6 – 9) Buy
  6. THE CROSSING: How George Washington Saved the American Revolution by Jim Murphy (Scholastic 2016, Ages 8 – 12) Buy
  7. CROSSING THE DELAWARE: A History in Many Voices by Louise Peacock (Aladdin 2007, Ages 8 – 12) Buy
  8. GEORGE WASHINGTON: The Crossing by Jack E. Levin, Mark R. Levin (Threshold 2013, Ages 8 – 12) Buy
  9. TIME ENOUGH FOR DRUMS by Ann Rinaldi (Laurel Leaf 2000, Fiction, Ages 12+ -) Buy

Other reading lists for books on the American Revolution can be found at the HistoryAuthorTalks.com Bookshop.org store at this link.


These and other fine books and educational materials are available at your local library, or wherever books are sold including the gift shops at The Old Barracks Museum 609-396-1776, and Washington’s Crossing Historic Park 215-493-4076. (Titles listed with a ▼are out of print and are available at libraries or perhaps online).