They were heroes, revolutionaries who risked everything. They were complicated, sometimes conniving men of intellect and instinct, passion, ambition, and reserve. In this scrupulously researched narrative history, A.J. Langguth brings them alive with vivid portraiture and actual dialogue from their letters and speeches. Patriots conveys the reality of the American Revolution with all its bloody battles, treacheries, and drama.

In this most engaging, richly shaded portrait of George Washington, we see the essential honor and integrity of the man and the tenacious will that inspired his soldiers onward - despite his sometimes shaky military strategies. We see Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence only because John Adams wouldn't, who annoyed fellow legislators at the Continental Congress by constantly returning home to the bedside of his ailing wife. We see the Adams cousins - John, self-conscious, desperately ambitious, and Sam, an unforgettable character who feared Washington's imperial ambitions.

Langguth captures all the familiar figures and all the drama of American history's greatest scenes, from shipboard pandemonium at the Boston Tea Party to the secret meetings of the Sons of Liberty, to the final victory at Yorktown. He takes us into the battles, into the new Congress to hear Washington's stirring retirement address, into the spirit of our history's most unforgettable Patriots