For more than two centuries, historians have debated the history of the American Revolution, disputing its roots, its provenance, and above all, its meaning. These questions have intrigued Joseph J. Ellis throughout his entire career. With "The Cause: The American Revolution and its Discontents, 1773-1783," he brings the story of the revolution to vivid life. Completing a trilogy of books that began with "Founding Brothers," "The Cause" returns us to the very heart of the American founding, telling the military and political story of the war for independence from the ground up, and from all sides: British and American, loyalist and patriot, white and Black.