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Loading... 1776 (edition 2006)by David McCullough
Work Information1776 by David McCullough
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. (2005)Very good history that follows George Washington and the continental army from its losses in Boston to New York to finally a victory in New Jersey at Christmas. Everyone who grew up in the halcyon days of post-war America knows the very abbreviated story of our break with England and our Revolution. From its beginning in Boston to Washington's Presidency. It's mostly told as folk tales, familiar names made glorious warriors and others debased with evil malcontent. Once you reach adulthood, you understand that it was a lot more complicated, but given the constraints of interest and time, most don't give our revolution another thought. I think much of that is because so many of us learned dates, locations, and names by memorization. Historical knowledge was boring and forgotten directly after graduation. But war is never simple. It's always about people and their blood, lives, and terrible suffering. McCullough makes the first year of the American Revolution real. It's a war. It was the loss of sons, fathers, brothers, and friends for a cause that was not universally supported. I'm glad that I have given history books another try this year. I've been enjoying them more than I thought I would. Incredible the amount of detail author David McCullough is able to muster to flesh out this very compelling story of the struggle of 1776. I learned a lot, and developed a much deeper appreciation for some of the key battles and skirmishes of the American Revolution. From a literary perspective, the story wanes between pages of slightly too much detail to moments of sheer tension and enlightenment. McCullough tells a very human story, focusing on the known facts surrounding key characters, like Nathanael Greene, Charles Lee, Henry Clinton, Charles Cornwallis, William Howe, and George Washington. Highly recommend it for anyone interested in the period.
In his exhaustively researched and highly accessible new book, "1776," best-selling historian David McCullough (two-time Pulitzer winner for "John Adams" and "Truman") follows the Continental Army through a single, fateful year, one filled with surprise victories, stunning reversals, perilous midnight retreats and pure, grind-it-out perseverance. It's a story filled with drama, and McCullough shows himself once again to be among our nation's great storytellers. In his new book, ''1776,'' David McCullough brings to bear on this momentous year the narrative gifts he's demonstrated in such absorbing histories as ''The Great Bridge'' and ''The Path Between the Seas.'' As a history of the American Revolution, it is an oddly truncated volume: pivotal developments leading to the revolution like the Stamp Act, which happen to fall outside the perimeters of Mr. McCullough's rigid time frame, are not examined, and subsequent installments of the war (which would continue on after the Trenton-Princeton campaign for another half-dozen harrowing years) are ignored as well. AwardsDistinctions
References to this work on external resources. Wikipedia in English (24)Based on extensive research in both American and British archives, 1776 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 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. But it is the American commander-in-chief who stands foremost -- Washington, who had never before led an army in battle. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)973.3History and Geography North America United States Revolution and confederation (1775-89)LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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