This month in history Benedict Arnold was executed, Marilyn Monroe was born, The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album was released, WWII Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, and the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York.

The real Benedict Arnold by Jim Murphy

The making of Some like it hot: my memories of Marilyn Monroe and the classic American movie by Tony Curtis with Mark A. Vieira

D-day: the battle for Normandy by Antony Beevor

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [sound recording] by The Beatles

Enlightening the world: the creation of the Statue of Liberty by Yasmin Sabina Khan

The "shot heard round the world" fired at Lexington, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775 began the War for American Independence. On July 4, 1776 the Continental Congress unanimously declared the independence of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain, and embarked on the war that ended eight and a half years later on September 3, 1783 with the Treaty of Paris.

Books: Reference

American Eras: The Revolutionary Era, 1754-1783 edited by Robert J. Allison (1998)

Founding the Republic: A Documentary History edited John J. Patrick (1995)