Fellow Patriots,

Last evening Patti and I had the honor of being asked to attend the premier of the movie, “Young Washington,” is based on the early life of the Founding Father and first president of the United States, George Washington and focuses primarily on his aspirations to be an officer in the British Army and his leadership during the French and Indian Wars as the Colonel in charge of Virginia’s Militia.

The movie is deeply inspiring, depicting Washington’s early shortcomings and failures as well as success in overcoming them. Anyone who watches it – and I encourage you to do so when it is released later this month – should have his or her appetite whetted to know more about our country’s early years and founding.  

In that regard, as this year marks our country’s 250th birthday, I thought it might be appropriate to recommend some terrific books that tell the story of how we came to be as a nation. They cover the early colonial and Revolutionary periods of our history. The list below is by no means exhaustive but includes books that I — and others — highly recommend.  All are written by preeminent historians and scholars. Many have earned major literary recognition in one form or another. I have listed them in no priority order.

As you might suppose, some are more approachable and less scholarly than others, but they are all important — and interesting — reads. They all expose you, the reader, to some important facet of our country’s founding. I hope you find the list useful.

I invite you to pick out one of these books and read it.