The summer of 1776, the most dramatic few months in the story of our country's founding, is the focus of Ellis' work. The thirteen colonies came together and agreed to secede from the British Empire. At the same time, the British dispatched the largest armada ever to cross the Atlantic. Examines the most influential figures in this propitious moment, including George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Britain's Admiral Lord Richard and General William Howe. Ellis weaves together the political and military experiences as two sides of a single story, and shows how events on one front influenced outcomes on the other.