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| 1776. David McCullough. Revolutionary War. American History |
"1776" by David McCullough seemed an appropriate book to read this year.
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.
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.
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.
