1776

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1776

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1776

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In this masterful book, David McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence -- when the whole American cause was riding on their success, without which all hope for independence would have been dashed and the noble ideals of the Declaration would have amounted to little more than words on paper.

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 -- Nathanael 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.

Amazon.com:

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

The Other 1776

With his riveting, enlightening accounts of subjects from Johnstown Flood to John Adams, David McCullough has become the historian that Americans look to most to tell us our own story. In his Amazon.com interview, McCullough explains why he turned in his new book from the political battles of the Revolution to the battles on the ground, and he marvels at some of his favorite young citizen soldiers who fought alongside the remarkable General Washington.

The Essential David McCullough

John Adams	Truman	Mornings on Horseback
The Path Between the Seas	The Great Bridge	The Johnstown Flood

More Reading on the Revolution

The Great Improvisation by Stacy Schiff	Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer	His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis
Washington's General by Terry Golway	Iron Tears by Stanley Weintraub	Victory at Yorktown by Richard M. Ketchum

Customer Reviews:

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-07
A Tremendous Job of Researching
This is a heckuva well researched book. In terms of content, it can't be beat. The writing tends to be a bit uneven at times, with sentences that seem to lack flow and rhythm, but McCullough is first and foremost a historian and not a stylist.

Overall, 1776 deserves high praise.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-22
Celebrated Author Mails in Effort...News at 11
Wonderfully researched by McCullough's staff and various librarians all over America and the UK. This book is worth purchasing used if only for the bibliography, which covers more than 20 pages. Alas, Pulitzer Prize & National Book Award winning author, David McCullough delivers by far the weakest presentation of material I've yet to read by him. Truman and John Adams are towering works and Mornings on Horseback is an excellent read. I've not read any of his other books.

1776 is a short, quick, unchallenging read about a particular aspect of an extraordinarily important period in American history. McCullough does not concern himself beyond the most perfunctatorial mentioning of anything besides the struggle between the American army under General George Washington and the British army it opposed in Boston, in and around New York City and in New Jersey. From rousing victory without bloodshed to crushing and repeated defeats to tide-turning and decisive victory.

McCullough's presentation is dutiful and repetitive. Only General Washington is delineated with any particular effort. Other important personages are presented with an offhanded chattiness just barely this side of cuteness. The miserableness of the American army is incessantly referred to, as is the commonness of it's soldiers. McCullough seems to have an almost perverse insistance that American freedom was bought with the blood of the most vulgar wretches imaginable; the lowest of the low. Duly noted. Wars are rarely fought by the rich and there was nothing profoundly patriotic or "American" about the peasantry of nation taking up arms to defend it's land. What's your point, Mr. McCullough?

This is McCullough's only effort and describing battle tactics and events that I'm aware of and he does not equip himself well. He fails to convey with any clarity the lay of the land, intended tactics or actual troop movements. He describes land only very generally, general orders vaguely and troop movements hurridly. To read the seige of Boston & battles of New York and New Jersey, I would recommend using the internet for area maps, specific orders and other helpful clarifying information. It may well be McCullough's strength lay much more in biography (Adams, Truman, T. Roosevelt, Brave Companions subjects) and topical history (Brooklyn Bridge, Johnstown Flood and Panama Canal) than in the minutae of military history.

McCullough's tone is relaxed and chatty to a fault. I like my history as easily digestable as the next guy but there is a fine line between popular history and a downright commercial presentation deliberately designed to capitalize on the author's popularity. For all of the research, there is very little hard history here. Furthermore, it has been my experience that Revolutionary War history, both militarily and politically, is best understood by reading biographies of the principal participants, particularly Washington, Andrew Hamilton, Adams, Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson because a well written biography inevitably places the subject in the larger context of their time. This is not a necessary read as the same information can be had with a reading any one of the several excellent biographies of Washington availiable in conjuction with a familiarity with the numerous websited that delineate in excruciating detail the actual events of the battles outlined in this book.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-09
Big name, weak book
I think McCullough's living on his reputation with this one. A good bit of information, but not a lot of sense of history or the events or the people. Whoever wrote this for him didn't do a great job. I read this after Ellis' American Creation and the contrast was shattering.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-09
Great book!
I was surprised to know what really happened in 1776. It was a great year with many challenges. I enjoyed reading this book.

Rating:
Date: 2008-06-09
Excellent Read
1776 is an excellent piece of literature. From page 1 you are transported back to this most important time in our history. I found this to be a fascinating work, one that should be read by all Americans. Especially during this, an election year. Bravo ! I look forward to reading all of David McCullough's masterpieces.

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