Book Review: 1776

Category: American History
294pp
I don't know if I can even add something to the discussion here. 1776 is the non-fiction book of last year, you know, the one that everybody talks about and therefore is a huge bestseller. As the title implies, it is about the year 1776. The main thing that people know about it is that's when the Declaration of Independence was signed, and that is the case. However, this book is more about the battles that were fought in Boston, New York, and New Jersey. This was a trying time for George Washington, and you can see how ineffectual he was at times as a field general - splitting his troops up, waffling on where to keep them - in Brooklyn or in New York, and so forth. However, McCullough does a great job showing Washington's strengths too, mainly in inspiring and leading his army. He may not have been the best strategist or military mind in our nation's history, but he was the only one who could have kept the army together amid scuffles in between states and the Tory v. Patriot intrastate battles. Several times you can see Divine Providence in the escapes of the Continental Army - a fog that rolled over New York Harbor during the escape from Brooklyn, unseasonable winds that kept the British Navy from cutting off the army from escape routes, and so on. There definitely was a divine hand in the founding of the United States, but it wasn't going to all be up to God - we had to help it happen. For a quick understanding of the year, this is a very readable and thorougly enjoyable view of one of the defining years in our nation's history. Highly recommended.