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The American Revolution and the Fate of the World

Author Richard Bell
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Hardcover
$35.00 US
| $48.00 CAN
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Riverhead Books
On sale Nov 04, 2025 | 416 Pages | 9780593719510
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“American history as if from a barstool, not a lecture podium. Giddy, rollicking, and bold.” —Ilyon Woo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Master Slave Husband Wife

"Accessible and impassioned entry to anyone interested in understanding the nation's founding from a dazzling, kaleidoscopic perspective. " —Ned Blackhawk, National Book Award-winning author of The Rediscovery of America

A prize-winning historian's fascinating and unfamiliar recasting of America's war of independence as a transformative international event

In this revelatory and enthralling book, award-winning historian Richard Bell reveals the full breadth and depth of America’s founding event. The American Revolution was not only the colonies’ triumphant liberation from the rule of an overbearing England; it was also a cataclysm that pulled in participants from around the globe and threw the entire world order into chaos. Repositioning the Revolution at the center of an international web, Bell’s narrative ranges as far afield as India, Africa, Central America, and Australia. As his lens widens, the “War of Independence” manifests itself as a sprawling struggle that upended the lives of millions of people on every continent and fundamentally transformed the way the world works, disrupting trade, restructuring penal systems, stirring famine, and creating the first global refugee crisis. Bell conveys the impact of these developments at home and abroad by grounding the narrative in the gripping stories of individuals—including women, minorities, and other disenfranchised people. The result is an unforgettable and unexpected work of American history that shifts everything we thought we knew about our creation story.
Praise for The American Revolution and the Fate of the World

“The causes, course, and consequences of the war are given a fresh perspective and told in a spirited style. Recommended for anyone interested in U.S. and world history.”—Library Journal, STARRED review

“Based on solid and deep research, [this] book is written in clear, accessible prose—with entertaining minutia . . . that will appeal to general readers with an interest in history. A fresh perspective on a familiar subject."—Kirkus, STARRED review

“Richard Bell tells American history as if from a barstool, not a lecture podium. Giddy, rollicking, and bold, this is the story of America told up close and personal, with individuals and adventures summoned in deep, sensory detail, with all their nastiness and beauty. Infusing all is the critical idea that the dream, project, and revolution of America have always been bigger than its borders.” —Ilyon Woo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Master Slave Husband Wife

"The American Revolution ranged across the seas, upon every inhabited continent, and across a 'vast global canvas,' as Richard Bell so powerfully exposes. His masterful synthesis provides accessible and impassioned entry to anyone interested in understanding the nation's founding from a dazzling, kaleidoscopic perspective. Highly recommended." —Ned Blackhawk, National Book Award-winning author of The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History

“Lucid and expansive, Richard Bell’s book presents vivid characters who reveal the global stage and stakes of a revolution that was American and much more.” —Alan Taylor, two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Revolutions: A Continental History

“Richard Bell has woven a coat of many colors—in enviably handsome prose—from the Scots who mutinied against army service in America, the Chinese workers who reenacted the Boston Tea Party (with opium), the hundreds of ex-slaves who took refuge with Britain’s ‘Hessian’ allies, and more.”—Woody Holton, author of Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution and Abigail Adams: A Life
© Thai Nguyen
Richard Bell is a British-born, American-trained historian of the early United States. A professor of history at the University of Maryland, he has been an NEH Public Scholar and an Andrew Carnegie Fellow, among other honors. His previous book, Stolen, was a finalist for the George Washington Prize and the Harriet Tubman Prize. View titles by Richard Bell

About

“American history as if from a barstool, not a lecture podium. Giddy, rollicking, and bold.” —Ilyon Woo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Master Slave Husband Wife

"Accessible and impassioned entry to anyone interested in understanding the nation's founding from a dazzling, kaleidoscopic perspective. " —Ned Blackhawk, National Book Award-winning author of The Rediscovery of America

A prize-winning historian's fascinating and unfamiliar recasting of America's war of independence as a transformative international event

In this revelatory and enthralling book, award-winning historian Richard Bell reveals the full breadth and depth of America’s founding event. The American Revolution was not only the colonies’ triumphant liberation from the rule of an overbearing England; it was also a cataclysm that pulled in participants from around the globe and threw the entire world order into chaos. Repositioning the Revolution at the center of an international web, Bell’s narrative ranges as far afield as India, Africa, Central America, and Australia. As his lens widens, the “War of Independence” manifests itself as a sprawling struggle that upended the lives of millions of people on every continent and fundamentally transformed the way the world works, disrupting trade, restructuring penal systems, stirring famine, and creating the first global refugee crisis. Bell conveys the impact of these developments at home and abroad by grounding the narrative in the gripping stories of individuals—including women, minorities, and other disenfranchised people. The result is an unforgettable and unexpected work of American history that shifts everything we thought we knew about our creation story.

Reviews

Praise for The American Revolution and the Fate of the World

“The causes, course, and consequences of the war are given a fresh perspective and told in a spirited style. Recommended for anyone interested in U.S. and world history.”—Library Journal, STARRED review

“Based on solid and deep research, [this] book is written in clear, accessible prose—with entertaining minutia . . . that will appeal to general readers with an interest in history. A fresh perspective on a familiar subject."—Kirkus, STARRED review

“Richard Bell tells American history as if from a barstool, not a lecture podium. Giddy, rollicking, and bold, this is the story of America told up close and personal, with individuals and adventures summoned in deep, sensory detail, with all their nastiness and beauty. Infusing all is the critical idea that the dream, project, and revolution of America have always been bigger than its borders.” —Ilyon Woo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Master Slave Husband Wife

"The American Revolution ranged across the seas, upon every inhabited continent, and across a 'vast global canvas,' as Richard Bell so powerfully exposes. His masterful synthesis provides accessible and impassioned entry to anyone interested in understanding the nation's founding from a dazzling, kaleidoscopic perspective. Highly recommended." —Ned Blackhawk, National Book Award-winning author of The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History

“Lucid and expansive, Richard Bell’s book presents vivid characters who reveal the global stage and stakes of a revolution that was American and much more.” —Alan Taylor, two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Revolutions: A Continental History

“Richard Bell has woven a coat of many colors—in enviably handsome prose—from the Scots who mutinied against army service in America, the Chinese workers who reenacted the Boston Tea Party (with opium), the hundreds of ex-slaves who took refuge with Britain’s ‘Hessian’ allies, and more.”—Woody Holton, author of Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution and Abigail Adams: A Life

Author

© Thai Nguyen
Richard Bell is a British-born, American-trained historian of the early United States. A professor of history at the University of Maryland, he has been an NEH Public Scholar and an Andrew Carnegie Fellow, among other honors. His previous book, Stolen, was a finalist for the George Washington Prize and the Harriet Tubman Prize. View titles by Richard Bell

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