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Welcome to the 1776 Description page:
Esteemed historian
David McCullough covers the military side of the momentous year of 1776 with characteristic
insight and a gripping narrative, adding new scholarship and a fresh perspective
to the beginning of the American Revolution. It was a turbulent and confusing
time. As British and American politicians struggled to reach a compromise, events
on the ground escalated until war was inevitable. McCullough writes vividly about
the dismal conditions that troops on both sides had to endure, including an unusually
harsh winter, and the role that luck and the whims of the weather played in helping
the colonial forces hold off the world's greatest army. He also effectively explores
the importance of motivation and troop morale--a tie was as good as a win to the
Americans, while anything short of overwhelming victory was disheartening to the
British, who expected a swift end to the war. The redcoat retreat from Boston,
for example, was particularly humiliating for the British, while the minor American
victory at Trenton was magnified despite its limited strategic importance.
Some
of the strongest passages in 1776 are the revealing and well-rounded portraits
of the Georges on both sides of the Atlantic. King George III, so often portrayed
as a bumbling, arrogant fool, is given a more thoughtful treatment by McCullough,
who shows that the king considered the colonists to be petulant subjects without
legitimate grievances--an attitude that led him to underestimate the will and
capabilities of the Americans. At times he seems shocked that war was even necessary.
The great Washington lives up to his considerable reputation in these pages, and
McCullough relies on private correspondence to balance the man and the myth, revealing
how deeply concerned Washington was about the Americans' chances for victory,
despite his public optimism. Perhaps more than any other man, he realized how
fortunate they were to merely survive the year, and he willingly lays the responsibility
for their good fortune in the hands of God rather than his own. Enthralling and
superbly written, 1776 is the work of a master historian. --Shawn Carkonen
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