1776 by David McCullough Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of 1776
Book Review: 1776 is a reading must
Summary: 5 Stars
this should be on every school's required reading list and in
every family---it was great
Book Review: 1776!
Summary: 5 Stars
This may be one of the best books I've ever read! Using expert research and letters of those who were there McCullough weaves an amazing story of the military engagement which took place during the year we declared our independence.
Not only is this an enthralling military history but an engaging story of human bravery and suffering. You not only get a great look into the minds of the American and British generals, but you witness the thoughts of the common soldier who fought in the important battles such as the Siege of Boston and the battles of Manhattan island.
This book also give a great insight into life in America during the late 18th Century. It explains how rag-tag and unprofessional the Continental Army could be at time, while at other times it could be fiercely brave. It also tells how the British felt about the Revolution and how many Americans (especially in New York) stayed loyal to the Crown.
This is a great history. I highly recommend this book and kind of wish McCullough would write 1777 (and 1778 for that matter)!
Book Review: 1776...the turning point
Summary: 5 Stars
David McCullough vividly details the military battles of 1776 leading up to the famous Washington crossing of the Delaware which we all know so well. Not being a scholar or historian I did not know of all the skirmishes or battles leading up to the siege at Trenton. I found this book richly detailed and researched. Which is no surprise when it comes to McCullough. He has a knack of making historical detail so engrossing and relevant. The battle at Brooklyn was riveting storytelling. What really amazed me was the humanity that McCullough brought to George Washington, his military mistakes and flaws all revealed and his humility to acknowledge his mistakes and learn from them gave him the greatness that was bestowed upon him.Book Review: 1776: A ROLLER-COASTER RIDE!
Summary: 5 Stars
David McCullough's book "1776" chronicles the first major year of fighting in during America's war for independence. The strength of this book is how McCullough gives the reader a humanistic portrayal of all the key players of the American Revolution. His accounts of key battles and events are exciting and dramatic, rivaling the best of historic fiction. This book will keep you glued until the very end. I highly recommend it!
Grade: A
Book Review: A Fresh Look At 1776
Summary: 4 Stars
Regular readers of this space will recognize that I spend a fair amount of time discussing the lessons of, or looking at specific aspects of, the three great European revolutions- the English, French and the Russian. I have also given a fair amount of space to the grandeur of the American Civil War. I have, in contrast, tended to give short shrift to the virtues of the American Revolution. This is flat out wrong. Thus, over the past couple of years I have tried to rectify that slight by increasing the amount of space given over to various aspects of the American Revolution, mainly biographic sketches. Today I continue that shift with a review of the well-known historian and documentary narrator David McCullough's 1776.
Part of the reason for selecting Mr. McCullough's work is the personal need to go over again the specifics of the revolutionary period. You know, the battle of this or that, or some military operation led by whomever. However, the more pressing reason is that Mr. McCullough has written an important book centered on detailing the creation of the American revolutionary national liberation army, its trials, tribulations and faults. Moreover, McCullough has written his narrative of events in an easy to follow way, including some very insightful commentary about various turning points in the revolutionary experience, like the effect of the issuance of the Declaration of Independence on the morale of the troops in the field.
The key to understanding the eventual success of the American colonial struggle against bloody England was the coalescing of a ragtag, localized basically oversized weekend militia into first a New England- wide then a continent-wide army worthy of the name. Along the way cadres were formed that saw the struggle through to the end. No revolutionary movement can be successful without that accrual. The case of Henry Knox, local Boston bookseller turned military magician, bringing captured cannon from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston in order to help `push' the British out of Boston is just the most dramatic case of such cadre development
Equally as important, the names Washington, Gates and Knox and lesser cadre keep coming up repeatedly during this narrative, and rightly so. That points to the decisive question that the narration of events here turn on- leadership at crunch time. A whole school of historians, at one time at least, tended to diminish the role that Washington played in keeping these ragtag forces together. McCullough, rightly I think, challenges that assumption and places the Washington leadership as a key component to success.
McCullough, moreover, intentionally or not, throughout his narrative not only traces the development of Washington as a leader in the abstract but how he fares during the various campaigns. Thus we are treated to the high of his maneuvers in the key fight that led to the evacuation of Boston by the British, and then the low of the shifting of the struggle to the south with the devastating initial colonial defeats in the greater New York area when British imperialism got into high gear and applied its muscle.
Thereafter McCullough details the various retreats down through New Jersey and ends the year with the famous Battle of Trenton that was key to the survival of the revolutionary army in its first year. The narrative breaks off there. Although the opponents slugged it out for several more years the maintenance of a functioning revolutionary army in the field points positively toward the conclusion that victory was possible. Read this book and learn about some of our common revolutionary history.