I'm completely new to reading Revolutionary history, and getting overwhelmed by so many choices that all seem excellent - Philbrick, Ketchum, Fischer, McCullough. Could anyone point me to a work that discusses in detail the specific battles I'm interested in?
In particular, I'd like to learn more about the fall/winter of 1776 - starting with the defeat at the Battle of White Plains, and including battles at Fort Washington/Fort Tryon and Fort Lee. For now, less on Trenton - (which is not to say I'm at all disinterested)
Having recently moved to Harlem, I've been really captivated by what I've learned walking through Fort Tryon Park - (and intrigued to learn it's named for an especially vicious enemy commander.) I've also had different occasions to travel through the Hudson Valley, including hiking around Hessian Lake, on trails named for significant dates and people, lodging by West Point, retreating at Garrison, visiting friends in Fort Lee, school trips to White Plains - so I've been in and around sites significant to the war for years without realizing it.
If you want specifics, Henry Phelps Johnston's venerable ( 1878) The Campaign of 1776 Around New York and Brooklyn has piles of letters, orders, 1st person accounts. It's downloadable here at Project Gutenberg. But its worms'-eye view material can be confusing, if you read it on its own, so you'd first want to read a decent secondary source for the bigger picture. The historical publishing industry known as David McCullough has written one, 1776, that's pretty good.