2024 - A Surprisingly Vibrant Market for American Revolution Era Books
Eugene Procknow
Historian of the American Revolution | Author: William Hunter: Finding Free Speech A British Soldier's Son Who Became an Early American | Former Strategist and Leader of Consultants
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2024 American Revolution Scholarship in Review
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Eminent historian Gordon S. Wood lamented that “very few good books on the American Revolution were published this year due to declining scholarly interest in a recent Wall Street Journal article. As proof, Professor Wood cited a William & Mary forum that called for “an end to privileging U.S. independence in our history writing,” recognizing that colonialism and dispossession of Native Nations land continued after the Revolution. Neither Wood’s nor William & Mary forum’s views are represented in the numbers and types of books brought to market this year. American Revolutionary Era scholarship remains vibrant, with sixty-three new books published this year, an increase of 13% over 2023. Academic presses increased their publishing by a whopping 73%. The growth is remarkable, given many authors and publishers intend to bring books to market during next year’s semiquincentennial year.
?However, Professor Wood may have made an insightful point concerning media coverage of the American Revolution scholarship. The number of overall book reviews is down from last year. Bucking this trend, the number of reviews published by the “Big Three” reviewers (Journal of the American Revolution, Wall Street Journal, and Researching the American Revolution) remained relatively constant. Another measure of interest in the American Revolution is including new books on the top books of the year lists. Unlike last year, no books on the American Revolution made it to the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal’s lists of the top books of the year.
?Biographies remain the top genre, with male founders dominating the category. Publishers brought to market an astonishing six books on Thomas Jefferson, reflecting the continuing fascination with his life, character, and contributions. American Revolution publishers experienced significant concentration in 2024, which last year was highly fragmented. The top seven publishers accounted for over 50% of the total market, with eighteen publishers dropping out of the industry. ?Westholme Publishing remains the top publisher, with 16% of the market. While trade presses continue to dominate the market, academic presses made impressive gains this year. Authors remain predominately male, and the majority hold PhDs or JDs. However, several of the top scholarly volumes, such as John L. Smith’s biography of Abigail Adams and Gary Ecelbarger’s monograph on George Washington and the Philadelphia campaign were written by non-PhD historians.
?The corpus of this scholarship review focuses on professionally researched and knowledgeably supported interpretations of American Revolution events and people during the last forty years of the eighteenth century. The sixty-three history books analyzed comprise only first hardback editions (or paperback if no hardback published) and exclude self-published volumes, children, and young adult books. Fine works of historical fiction and fantasy are also excluded. Printed volumes, book reviews, publishers, and Amazon listings are the principal sources for publishing information supplemented by author websites and other associated online information. Note one book with a 2023 publishing date is included in 2024, as it was only available to the public after the preparation of the 2023 scholarship review.
?Below are more detailed data analytics on the American Revolutionary book publishing markets, including subjects, publishers, authors, and reviews. Following the book data analytics are listings of the books with links to associated book reviews. Readers are encouraged to respond to this post with any book omissions and suggestions.
What were the subjects?
·????? Biographies remained the most substantial genre, representing over 30% of the books.
o?? Only two of the biographies chronicled the lives of women
o?? Founders comprised the most prominent group, with the second-highest category of military officers.
o?? Thomas Jefferson continues to fascinate authors and the reading public with six new biographies.
·????? “Campaigns and Battles” continue as the category with the second most published books.
o?? The number of books on the Northern and Southern military theaters was roughly split
o?? There was a new interest in books on the American Revolution in the West.
·????? Interest waned on Loyalism, with only one book published in 2024 versus 7 in 2023.
·????? Slavery and the Confederation Period books saw notable increases.
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Who were the book Publishers?
·????? 31 professional publishers brought an American Revolutionary Era book to market in 2024
·????? 41% of books were published by university presses (up from 28% last year).
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·????? 59% of the books were published by trade presses (down from 72% last year)
o?? The History Press and Sunbury Press shared third place with three newly published books.
Who were the authors?
·?????? Do you need a Ph.D. for a university press to publish your book?
·?????? What is the educational background of authors published by a trade press?
How did professional reviewers receive the books?
·?????? The number of book reviews declined from 50 in 2023 to 33 this year.
·?????? The largest reviewers continued to dominate the market
o?? The Journal of the American Revolution published 9 fewer reviews this year
o?? The Wall Street Journal published five more reviews
o?? The Researching the American Revolution website published two more reviews.
o?? Other reviewers declined by 15.
For a list of the 2024 American Revolution books, see
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