Book excerpt: This fascinating multivolume set provides a unique resource for learning about early American history, including thematic essays, topical entries, and an invaluable collection of primary source documents. In 1783, just months after the United States achieved independence from Great Britain, General George Washington was compelled to convince his officers not to undertake a military coup of the Congress of Confederation. Had the planned mutinous coup of the Newburgh Conspiracy gone forward, the American experiment may have ended before it even began. The pre-colonial and colonial periods of early American history are filled with accounts of key events that established the course of our nation's development. This expansive three-volume set provides entries on a wide variety of topics and themes in early American history to elucidate how the United States came to be. Written in straightforward language, the encyclopedic entries on social, political, cultural, and military subjects from the pre-Columbian period through the creation of the Constitution (roughly 1400–1790) will be useful for anyone wishing to deeply investigate the who, what, where, when, and why of early America. Additionally, the breadth of primary documents—including personal diaries, letters, poems, images, treaties, and other legal documents—provides readers with firsthand sources written by the men and women who shaped American history, both the famous and the less well known. Each of the three volumes also presents thematic essays on highlighted topics to fully place the individual entries within their proper historical context and heighten readers' comprehension.