John S. Pancake

I've had this book hanging around for years, and sat down to read it after McCulloch's 1776. Pancake provides a great overview of the campaigns of 1777. Though it doesn't focus on Saratoga, or Oriskany, or Brandywine, it puts them into a larger context that helps the reader understand the goals of the British high command, and how the Continental army responded to them. It reinforces my view of Washington as a great commander.

Pancake's history of the Southern Campaign is good, mostly confined to the Carolinas. He spends considerable energy on the partisan warfare of that campaign until Greene enters on the scene, and then focuses on that army instead. A good place to begin.