* The fascinating story surrounding the British effort to bring the American Revolution to a peaceful end * The fateful September 11, 1776, meeting on Staten Island between British Admiral Lord Richard Howe and Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge * A compelling glimpse into politics, military diplomacy, and American character at the dawn of independence * Early America from the eyewitness viewpoints of a feisty English traveler, a distressed Lutheran pastor, a precocious young lady, two sympathetic British officers, and an assortment of eccentric Founding Fathers