Just in time for Independence Day, William Hogeland presents new research and top-notch scholarship to reveal how the American Revolution really began.

Declaration: The Nine Tumultuous Weeks When America Became Independent, May 1-July 4, 1776 tells the inside story of how a small band of disparate, determined patriots led by the mysterious Samuel Adams of Massachusetts and assisted by his nervous cousin John used backroom deals and bare-knuckle politics to induce the Second Continental Congress to abandon a course of reconciliation with England and embrace American independence – all in just nine weeks.

Hogeland has published in numerous print and online periodicals, including The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, and Slate.