British Empire Books


1776


TypeNon-Fiction
AuthorDavid McCullough
PublisherSimon & Schuster
Published2005



David McCullough has written a succinct account of the most crucial year of the American Revolution. He writes in a narrative style about a year that really did see-saw between the two protagonists. He offers a detached analysis that treats all participants cooly and fairly. The story starts with events in Boston where the Americans gain the upper hand, transfer to New York where the British have things go there way and ends with the daring crossing of the Delaware by Washington and the attack on Trenton. Reading the book, you gain an excellent understanding for the major themes, characters and events but you also see just how closely both sides came to success or failure. He clearly describes the difficulties and hardships endured by all the participants and treats them all fairly. The linear approach works particularly well giving you a clear timeline of how the events interacted and inter-related with one another.

The author has a very clear writing style that is engaging and builds upon itself to reach a compelling conclusion. It is only one year in isolation that he treats, but it is the critical year. It would still be nice if you could go on and complete the other years of the campaign, but I'd doubt he'd be able to gain such a pleasing narrative arc with the other years.


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by Stephen Luscombe