1776 by David McCullough

1776 by David McCullough
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I listened to this on Audible but I had read it before. A large part of it was that I love listening to David McCullough talk about history, I could listen to him for hours(which I did in this case). I'll just do a quick summary of the book here.

In short this is the first year and half of George Washington's taking command of the American forces in mid 1775 in Boston in which British forces are surrounded by the American forces. and ends in early January 1777 after Washington exceeds expectations and defeats Hessian's at Trenton, New Jersey and the British at Princeton, New Jersey. These were relatively small engagements but served as morale boost for the American's in general and solidified Washington's leadership(and perhaps his mythical status in American history). It also forced the British(and mercenary Hessian's) to take the Continental Army seriously.

We also meet a variety of people of the revolutionary period. We meet his two most trusted General's Henry Knox and Nathaniel Greene whom would serve Washington for the duration of the war. It was Knox's idea and follow thru to get the the artillery pieces at Fort Ticonderoga and trek them all the way to Boston which helped brake the siege. We also meet future Presidents John Adams and James Monroe(who served in Washington's Army). We also meet another founding father who was a young Artillery Captain, Alexander Hamilton(who's popularity has exploded in recent years).

The book only gives a passing glance to political goings on elsewhere outside of Washington's military actions. For anything leading up to the Declaration of Independence in July 1776(which unsurprising is probably what people first think of when you say 1776) you'd have to go elsewhere like David McCullough's epic biography of John Adams. This is pretty much a military history of George Washington during this time period.

David McCullough's storytelling is masterful and I highly recommend the audio version. I've read other military books and they can be dry and overly serious without much context, this is none of that. His descriptions are colorful and we get to know more about the people involved which point out the good and the bad of each side in this case(yes Washington had his faults). For those wishing to read about the American Revolution I'd certainly put this on the essential reading list.

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