1776
America’s beloved and distinguished historian presents, in a book of breathtaking excitement, drama, and narrative force, the stirring story of the year of our nation’s birth, 1776, interweaving, on both sides of the Atlantic, the actions and decisions that led Great Britain to undertake a war against her rebellious colonial subjects and that placed America’s survival in the hands of George Washington.
Based on extensive research in both American and British archives, 1776 is a powerful drama written with extraordinary narrative vitality. It is the story of Americans in the ranks, men of every shape, size, and color, farmers, schoolteachers, shoemakers, no-accounts, and mere boys turned soldiers. And it is the story of the King’s men, the British commander, William Howe, and his highly disciplined redcoats who looked on their rebel foes with contempt and fought with a valor too little known.
At the center of the drama, with Washington, are two young American patriots, who, at first, knew no more of war than what they had read in books – Nathaniel Greene, a Quaker who was made a general at thirty-three, and Henry Knox, a twenty-five-year-old bookseller who had the preposterous idea of hauling the guns of Fort Ticonderoga overland to Boston in the dead of Winter.
But it is the American commander-in-chief who stands foremost – Washington, who had never before led an army in battle. Written as a companion work to his celebrated biography of John Adams, David McCullough’s 1776 is another landmark in the literature of American history.
The year 1776, celebrated as the birth year of the nation and for the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was for those who carried the fight for independence forward a year of all-too-few victories, of sustained suffering, disease, hunger, desertion, cowardice, disillusionment, defeat, terrible discouragement, and fear, as they would never forget, but also of phenomenal courage and bedrock devotion to country, and that, too they would never forget.
By choosing this one year in history, instead of cramming in everything he can about this pivotal period in history, the author is easily able to describe the unfolding events not only in a way that turns this history book from dry and brittle to interesting and captivating but also in a logical chronological order that’s easy for anyone to follow.
Although this book is originally about the Continental Army, it could just as easily be a biography of George Washington. This book paints a portrait of Washington that’s different from what you usually read about him. It shows him as a man of faith and with exemplary leadership skills, but he’s also shown as a man with normal traits, like self-doubt after the Brooklyn and Fort Washington defeats.
Through extensive research, the author shows that two of Washington’s closest generals, General Charles Lee and Joseph Reed, lost a lot of confidence in him after the Continental Army retreated across the Hudson. It’s easier for the reader to picture Washington with all the background provided. However, while I connected to the man, I also felt very uncomfortable when he was there because of aspects of his personality that came through in the author’s writing.
In a book about this topic, not everything is about the Continental Army and driving the Redcoats out. This author also gives over a lot of space to the personalities, actions, and motivations of the King’s Army. In this way, a well-rounded account of this year’s events is written, and maybe even why the Continental Army won.
There’s a lot I could say about this book, but then this would turn into a thesis, which negates any point of reading it. It’s a great book and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical nonfiction and this time period.