A revelatory account of how words and actions combined to destroy Britain’s colonial rule and secure Washington’s American victory The American Revolution was not only fought on bloody battlefields, it was waged with the ink of pen and print. George Goodwin shows how the leaders of the American Revolution brilliantly weaponized information and propaganda through correspondence and newspapers, shaping public perception, mobilizing support, and swaying the colonies toward open rebellion. Once the war began, George Washington’s tireless ability to deploy the pen and press as a weapon of war helped to unite and sustain very different colonies and colonists during the eight long years before victory. Drawing on a wealth of contemporary accounts, letters, and publications, Goodwin demonstrates how liberty and authority were contested through ideas, images, and rhetoric at the time of America’s birth―and how, 250 years on, the Revolution can be seen as America’s first great media war. “A wonderfully written, truly intriguing history of the American Revolution rich in entertaining anecdote and wit. George Goodwin not only shows how the Patriots’ command of propaganda sparked the American Revolution, but how, with words as much as deeds, patriots like General George Washington won the war and secured independence. It is not even slightly propaganda to deem this a fantastic book. You’ll want to add it to your must reads on the revolutionary era.”―Zara Anishanslin, author of The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution “The most lively and engaging feature of Goodwin’s book is the novel discussion of George Washington, who is not usually compared to Thomas Paine, but it is also a timely reminder of the importance of propaganda and press bias in the American Revolution.”―Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy, author of The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire “In Propaganda Wars of the American Revolution , George Goodwin demonstrates how much of that pivotal conflict was waged with pen, paper, and printing press. With public opinion taking a central role in determining the combatants’ ability to wage war, words mattered more than they had in previous conflicts. Deft statements by American printers, General George Washington (a vastly underrated penman), and ace polemicist Thomas Paine helped pave the road to victory.”―David O. Stewart, author of George Washington: The Political Rise of America’s Founding Father “Brilliantly depicts the American Revolution as the first great media war, from James Otis’s warnings to George Washington’s triumph. Exceptionally well-researched.”―R. C. Simmons, author of William Temple Franklin George Goodwin , a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and 2018–19 fellow at the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, is the author of Benjamin Franklin in London and lives close to London’s Kew Gardens.