Jeff Shaara is quite simply my favorite author of historical fiction. The main reason for this is his writing style is as close as one can get to being non fiction and still being a novel. Rise to Rebellion starts by giving the backdrop to the American Revolution and the beginning battles of the war itself.You will be able to see the personalities that were at workin this drama versus just the boring names and places that you learned about in school. Shaara does this for both sides of the revolution and is in no way pro America / anti British propoganda. This is history as it should be, well researched and vivid.It is also a 2-part series. The second part is called The Glorious Cause. I would highly recommend purchasing that book as well because once you finish with this one you will want to dive right into the other.