First airing is tonight, with three additional airings scheduled so far:

• Aug 06, 2016 | 10:50pm EDT | C‑SPAN 3
• Aug 07, 2016 | 4:50pm EDT | C‑SPAN 3
• Aug 08, 2016 | 2:50am EDT | C‑SPAN 3
• Aug 13, 2016 | 8:35am EDT | C‑SPAN 3

For future airings, check C‑SPAN’s website here.

If you cannot watch it live or DVR it, it should be online for streaming in the near future. I’ll let you know when it is.

I’ve also been featured as an expert on Bill O’Reilly’s Legends and Lies: the Patriots on FOX TV, but I don’t know which episodes I’ll be in until after they air. 

Did you see me on C‑SPAN3? How about on FOX’s Legends and Lies? Let me know what you thought by commenting below!

The post Watch by Book Tour Talk on CSPAN‑3 This Weekend appeared first on Derek W. Beck.

Here’s the Book Tour for June-July 2016:

• 6/12 @ 1030a CDT: Printer’s Row Lit Fest, Chicago, IL
• 6/14 @ 7p EDT: Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA
• 6/15 @ 7p EDT: Minute Man National Historical Park, Concord, MA
• 6/20 @ 630p EDT: Old South Meeting House, Boston, MA
• 6/21 @ 6p EDT: Boston Athenaeum, Boston, MA
• 6/22 @ 6p EDT: Charlestown Historical Society, Boston, MA
• 6/23 @ 630p EDT: Fraunces Tavern Museum, New York, NY
• 6/24 @ noon EDT: U.S. Military Academy at West Point Museum, NY
• 6/27 @ 7p EDT: Barnes & Noble (Potomac Yard), Alexandria, VA
• 6/28 @ 4p EDT: Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (SC Johnson Conference Center, 1st floor), Washington, DC
• 6/29 @ TBD EDT: Washington Crossing Park Association, Titusville, NJ (near Trenton)
• 6/30 @ TBD EDT: PENDING event in Princeton or Philadelphia
• 7/1 @ TBD EDT: PENDING event in Princeton or Philadelphia
• 7/2 @ 1030a EDT: David Library of the American Revolution, Washington Crossing, PA (near Trenton)

I hope to see you at one of these events! See the dynamic version of this page with the latest updates on the main page of my site (will be removed after the tour, or click here and select “Agenda” at top right). It will reflect the latest details at all times.

The post Book Tour Summer 2016 appeared first on Derek W. Beck.

‘The War Before Independence: 1775–1776’

Continuing where my debut Igniting the Revolution: 1773–1775 left off, my second nonfiction book begins with the new war just begun and the Siege of Boston underway, and quickly builds up to the exciting Battle of Bunker Hill. General George Washington arrives soon after and molds the new Continental Army. Meanwhile, to buy Washington time and prevent British reinforcement, Congress sends Gen. Richard Montgomery and Col. Benedict Arnold to Canada by separate routes as a pre-emptive strike against the other major British force in North America. Their expeditions converge and together they wage battle against the British in the epic blizzard Battle of Quebec City.

If you are looking for ebook versions, that will be available for pre-order soon. An audio book edition will also be coming soon.

In the meantime, please share this news far and wide! I have another book drafted… continuing into the Revolution, waiting in the wings. Pre-Sales and the success of this book will determine the fate of the next.

Still want to read the first book, Igniting the American Revolution: 1773–1775? You can order the hard cover edition of the book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble and pre-order the paperback due out late Spring 2016.

The post Second Book Available for Pre-Order! appeared first on Derek W. Beck.

“It is in the clear, engaging telling of a complex story that Igniting the American Revolution by Derek W. Beck stands out… It is precise while being straightforward to read, shows the passion of the participants without taking sides, and gives equal play to the political and military affairs.”

If you haven’t purchased Igniting the American Revolution: 1773–1775 yet, it is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble as both hardcover and ebook, and at Amazon as an Audible book as well. A physical CD copy of the audio book is also expected soon. Paperback is also now available for pre-order (releases summer 2016).

The post Praise for Igniting the American Revolution appeared first on Derek W. Beck.

‘Igniting the American Revolution: 1773–1775’ book cover

If you are looking for ebook versions, that will be available for pre-order soon. As for an audio book edition, that is still being determined. But feel free to contact the publisher to let them know you’d like to see/hear this book in audio if you want it.

In the meantime, please share this news far and wide! I have another book drafted… continuing into the Revolution, waiting in the wings. Pre-Sales and the success of this book will determine the fate of the next.

The post Book Cover and Pre-Order Available! appeared first on Derek W. Beck.

My article is on the first naval skirmish of the American Revolution.

The post My Naval Skirmish Article to be Published in a Journal appeared first on Derek W. Beck.

The Chicago-based Sourcebooks will be publishing my humble book, with a tentative availability date of Fall 2015. Sourcebooks has quite a few American Revolutionary War books under their belt, and the book is in good hands.

The new title for the book, likely the final, official title: “Igniting the American Revolution: 1773–1775”.

More to come soon, including changes to this website as I update the imagery with the new title. In the meantime, please share this news far and wide.

And, what are your thoughts on the title? I hope you like it as much as I do. Sound off below!

(If you are not a newsletter subscriber, you should be–those folks have known of this for three months! If you want to be an insider too, please join my newsletter. It’s generally only quarterly, but will ramp up to monthly or so as the book nears publication.)

The post Publication! Coming to a Book Store Near You! appeared first on Derek W. Beck.

In the meantime, in case you missed ’em, here are my latest journal entries at Journal of the American Revolution, in celebration of the anniversary of the start of the Revolution back on April 19:

Timeline of Paul Revere’s Ride

Skirmish of Lexington

The post Latest Articles at Journal of the American Revolution appeared first on Derek W. Beck.

Example British Sloop of War

This week, I had my first article posted over at Journal of the American Revolution, discussing what is perhaps the very first naval skirmish of the American Revolution. It begins:

In mid May 1775, just weeks after the bloody Battle of April Nineteenth had sparked the start of the American Revolution, the perhaps first naval skirmish of the Revolution was waged… the first naval skirmishes where undertaken by independent American revolutionary parties under no direct command, serving on small fishing and often whaling vessels. There are many undetailed reports of whaleboats harassing British naval vessels throughout the summer and fall of 1775. But perhaps the first, or maybe just the best recorded, is the attack against a detachment from the small 14-gun HM sloop Falcon under Commander John Linzee of the Royal Navy.

The article describes the actual skirmish between HM sloop Falcon and a band of whaleboaters from Dartmouth, MA, who dared to attack a British-commanded vessel.

Click here to read the full article.

The post First Naval Skirmish of the American Revolution appeared first on Derek W. Beck.

In fact, the results were better than expected.

Simply put, “his” book is devoted to describing the ideological and socio political landscape of the early part of the Revolution, but spends no time on the events, stories, and individuals as detailed in my 1775 manuscript.

Thus, Kevin Phillips’s 1775 (“his” book) is complementary to my work, and is not a competitor (despite the unfortunate similarity in the titles).

Unlike my 1775, “his” is somewhat scholarly, while mine reads narratively (you can read an excerpt of my first chapter online). In other words, mine is mostly chronological and follows characters through the important events of 1775. “His” is a series of essays really, strung together in logical ways to form meaningful chapters on socio political topics of the early Revolutionary era.

In fact, per Phillips’s own preface to his book, his mission is not to tell the story of the events of 1775, but rather to prove through his scholarly arguments and examples that “1775 was more important than 1776”.

This is the purpose of “his” book. Mine is to tell the story of the events in and around New England during 1775, utilizing new research and insights, and putting all of the major events together in one book so the context and relation of these events can be understood.

Thus, our books are very different.

As a stark example, “his” book summaries much of the events of 1775 within a few pages of his first chapter. He summarizes the entire Paul Revere’s Ride and the resulting first Battles of Lexington and Concord (or the Battle of April Nineteenth) in a mere paragraph! Phillips concludes that simple paragraph with this ultra concise summary:

… after eight militiamen were killed on Lexington Green and a small quantity of stores and powder destroyed in Concord, the redcoats came under attack by thousands of swarming minutemen. They were, as every schoolchild knows, chased back to Boston with heavy casualties. War was beginning.

Phillips gives little more of the battle itself, nor of any other battle, such as that at Bunker Hill. In contrast, my 1775 devotes three chapters to Lexington and Concord (and Menotomy, now Arlington), not to mention the chapters accounting for the build up to and aftermath of the battle. And I give another two on the Battle of Bunker Hill.

One need only peruse Phillips’s book to see how different it is from mine. “His” covers such topics as the role of religion in colonial life (Chapter 3), the colonial economies (Chapter 4), the socio political bond of the New England colonies (Chapter 8), British logistical inefficiencies (Chapter 12), the role of blacks and Indians (Chapter 15), British missed opportunities (Chapter 17), etc.

(Compare this to my event-driven story, as laid out in my book outline.)

Thus, despite the similar titles, my 1775 remains unique and worthy of publication, for now… Indeed, I might be stuck changing my title, but if I must, so be it.

In the meantime, I have tweaked my book proposal accordingly, and will tweak it a bit more before sending it later this week to my literary agents.

It’s time to get “my” 1775 published, before another book really does supersede mine.

(Have you read “his” book? If so, sound off below!)

The post 1775–Mine vs. ‘His’ (Review of Kevin Phillips’s 1775) appeared first on Derek W. Beck.