Few Americans know that the Revolutionary War did not begin with the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 but over a year earlier in April 1775. Now historian Derek Beck draws on previously unpublished documents to tell the full story of the war before American independence-from both sides. Spanning the years 1773-1776, this sweeps readers from the Boston Tea Party to the halls of Parliament-where Ben Franklin was almost run out of England for pleading on behalf of the colonies-to the fateful Expedition to Concord that resulted in the shot heard round the world. Vividly detailed and meticulously researched, this captivating historyreveals in a new light the perspectives and events that altered the futures of not only England and America, but the whole world.