The Human Tradition in the American Revolution, edited by Nancy L. Rhoden and Ian K. Steele, is a collection of brief biographies of 17 individuals who lived during the Revolutionary Period. American society during that time was diverse and divided: it included patriots, loyalists, Native Americans, slaves, free African-Americans, and mercenaries, to name a few.

Written by leading historians, including Gary Nash, John Shy, and Edward J. Cashin, these minibiographies reveal how various facets of American society were touched by the conflict and how individual people reacted to this epic event.

This volume introduces patriots such as Virginian Arthur Lee who, along with Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane, helped forge an alliance with France in 1778. It also details the common soldier's experience, through the engaging stories of Benjamin Gilbert and sailor Jacob Nagle, who both joined the fight against the British.

Also included is loyalist Lachlan McGillivray, an Indian trader whose property was confiscated by the revolutionaries; Cherokee warrior and loyalist Dragging Canoe, who struggled to save Native American land from white settlers; sailor Ashley Bowen, whose family was ruined financially by the Revolution; and Quaker Elizabeth Drinker, who was a pacifist and an opponent of slavery.

The Human Tradition in the AmericanRevolution provides a unique opportunity for the reader to go beyond the popular heroes of the American Revolution and discover the diverse populace that inhabited the colonies during this pivotal point in history.