Revolutionary New York City: America at 250 (2026) is a five-borough collaborative multi-year effort by The Bronx County Historical Society, Historic Richmond Town, Center for Brooklyn History, and the Gotham Center, with contributions from Philipse Manor Hall, the Lott House, Queens County Farm, and others.
This book of essays moves beyond the iconic battles and founding fathers to reveal the complex, messy, and deeply human reality of the American Revolution in New York City.
From the farms of Queens and the divided “Neutral Ground” of The Bronx to the Loyalist strongholds of Staten Island, the war-torn fields of Brooklyn, and the upended landscape of Manhattan, historians uncover the lives of ordinary people — women, farmers, the enslaved, lukewarm Loyalists, and accidental Patriots — who navigated a world, a city, and a countryside turned upside down.
Follow a young guide as he leads Washington on a daring reconnaissance of today’s South Bronx. Learn how Manhattan’s ancient forests vanished to fuel an occupying army. Discover how the lead in the city’s elegant windows was melted into musket balls and contributed to the Continental Army’s long-term survival.
Featuring original scholarship, rarely seen sources, and a map of revolutionary sites in New York City, this volume reframes the nation’s founding as a lived experience of crisis, choice, and survival.
You can purchase the book here.