Recommended Reading

Full length Narratives to the Trenton and Princeton Campaigns and the Events of the Ten Crucial Days

  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.
  2. 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…”
  3. VICTORY OR DEATH: The Battles of Trenton and Princeton by Mark Maloy (Savas Beatie, 2018) Good overview and great for a self-guided tour.
  4. WASHINGTON’S CROSSING by David Hackett Fischer (Oxford, 2004) Despite having included some of Stryker's challenged references this is the bestselling book on the subject.
  5. 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.
  6. THE WINTER SOLDIERS: The Battles for Trenton and Princetonby Richard M. Ketchum. (Doubleday, 1973)▼Relies heavily on Stryker. Good military history for the modern reader.
  7. 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 which are either questionable, or have since been proven inaccurate.

Overviews, Abridgments, and Essays on the Ten Crucial Days and the Revolution in New Jersey

  1. THE BATTLE OF TRENTON/THE BATTLE OF PRINCETON: Two Studiesby Samuel Stelle Smith (Philip Freneau Pr. 1967) ▼
  2. NEW JERSEY IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION edited by Barbara J. Mitnick (Rutgers, 2005)
  3. TRENTON AND PRINCETON 1776-77: Washington Crossesthe Delawareby David Bonk (Osprey 2010) ▼
  4. A PEOPLE HARASSED AND EXHAUSTED: The Story of a New Jersey Militia Regiment in the American Revolution by Larry Kidder (Kidder, 2013)
  5. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION IN NEW JERSEY: Where the Battlefront Meets the Home Front edited by James J. Gigantino II (Rutgers, 2015)
  6. RESCUING THE REVOLUTION: Unsung Heroes of the Ten Crucial Days of the American Revolutionby David Price (Knox Press 2016) Short biographical vignettes on twelve lesser known participants of the Trenton and Princeton campaigns. Good storytelling.
  7. 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.
  8. CROSSROADS OF THE REVOLUTION: Trenton, 1774-1783 by William L. (Larry) Kidder (Knox Press, 2017) Meticulously researched history of Trenton; rich background on how this important colonial town survived the revolution.

Recommended General Histories of the Revolution and the Actions in New Jersey

  1. THE LONG RETREAT: The Calamitous Defense of New Jersey, 1776by Arthur S. Lefkowitz (Rutgers, 1998)
  2. 1776 by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster, 2006)
  3. THE GLORIOUS CAUSE: The American Revolution, 1763-1789by Robert Middlekauff (Oxford 2007)
  4. ALMOST A MIRACLE: The American Victory in the War of Independenceby John Ferling (Oxford 2007)
  5. THE MEN WHO LOST AMERICA: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empireby Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy (Yale 2013)
  6. BAND OF GIANTS: The Amateur Soldiers Who Won America'sIndependenceby Jack Kelly (Macmillan 2014)
  7. AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS: A Continental History, 1750-1804by Alan Taylor (WW Norton 2016)
  8. WASHINGTON'S IMMORTALS: The Untold Story of an Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolutionby Patrick K. O’Donnell (Grove 2017)
  9. THEATERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION James Kirby Martin and David L. Preston, Editors (Westholme 2017)

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

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

Television and Film

  1. “Turn” - AMC - www.amc.com/shows/turn(rife with historical liberties, but a nice sense of time and place).
  2. Winter Patriots”- www.WinterPatriots.com. Produced by Mount Vernon, with support from the F. M. Kirby Foundation
  3. The Crossing” - A&ETV 2003 (rife with historical liberties, but a nice sense of time and place).

These and other fine books and educational materials are available at your local library, or wherever books are sold including the David Library of the American Revolution 215-493-6776, 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)

List courtesy of TenCrucialDays.org