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Audio CD Description Esteemed historian David McCullough covers the military side of the momentous year of 1776 with characteristic insight and a gripping narrative, adding new scholarship and a fresh perspective to the beginning of the American Revolution. It was a turbulent and confusing time. As British and American politicians struggled to reach a compromise, events on the ground escalated until war was inevitable. McCullough writes vividly about the dismal conditions that troops on both sides had to endure, including an unusually harsh winter, and the role that luck and the whims of the weather played in helping the colonial forces hold off the world's greatest army. He also effectively explores the importance of motivation and troop morale--a tie was as good as a win to the Americans, while anything short of overwhelming victory was disheartening to the British, who expected a swift end to the war. The redcoat retreat from Boston, for example, was particularly humiliating for the British, while the minor American victory at Trenton was magnified despite its limited strategic importance. Some of the strongest passages in 1776 are the revealing and well-rounded portraits of the Georges on both sides of the Atlantic. King George III, so often portrayed as a bumbling, arrogant fool, is given a more thoughtful treatment by McCullough, who shows that the king considered the colonists to be petulant subjects without legitimate grievances--an attitude that led him to underestimate the will and capabilities of the Americans. At times he seems shocked that war was even necessary. The great Washington lives up to his considerable reputation in these pages, and McCullough relies on private correspondence to balance the man and the myth, revealing how deeply concerned Washington was about the Americans' chances for victory, despite his public optimism. Perhaps more than any other man, he realized how fortunate they were to merely survive the year, and he willingly lays the responsibility for their good fortune in the hands of God rather than his own. Enthralling and superbly written, 1776 is the work of a master historian. --Shawn Carkonen The Other 1776 With his riveting, enlightening accounts of subjects from the Johnstown Flood to John Adams, David McCullough has become the historian that Americans look to most to tell us our own story. In his Amazon.com interview, McCullough explains why he turned in his new book from the political battles of the Revolution to the battles on the ground, and he marvels at some of his favorite young citizen soldiers who fought alongside the remarkable General Washington. The Essential David McCullough John Adams Truman Mornings on Horseback The Path Between the Seas The Great Bridge The Johnstown Flood More Reading on the Revolution The Great Improvisation by Stacy Schiff Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis Washington's General by Terry Golway Iron Tears by Stanley Weintraub Victory at Yorktown by Richard M. Ketchum

Customer Reviews Disappointing from our finest historian I am one of the many who have enjoyed all of the books previously written by Mr. McCullough. His portrayals have been incisive and enlightening. He has never done a battle history before. Now we know why. This book is inelegant and truthfully, down-right boring. The movement plods, the portrayals lack his incisive depth, and places that shriek for more developement are left hanging. I once wrote a paper and my professor drew a line in the middle of the 40th page saying "This is where you obviously lost interest in this paper." I feel he researched this book, committed to it, started and then lost interest, work ethic driving it to completion. I have gotten to the point in my life that I no longer feel possessed to finish books that I am longer enjoying. Some like Diamond's Collapse I stopped because I got the point and felt he was being repetitive. Painfully, I stopped this one because I lost interest. This is a period of history I am intensely interested in and I got BORED. Battle histories are difficult. Ambrose, though slipshod with his sourcing, makes them come alive, as does Keenan. As a devoted reader, I would recommend Mr. McCollough stick with his strengths, astutely analyzing the minds and hearts behind our great events and leave the battle histories to ones with a little more Tom Clancy in them. Exaustive and compelling The author is justly famous for his erudite style and informative tone. It is a joy to read his work, made more so by his exhaustive research. Some historians go for a "novelized" approach, and others are so dry it hurts to read. Here is a book that is a happy median: at once filled with facts and primary documentation that is told in an interesting, compelling manner. History buffs will respect and admire this book; laymen will find it an interesting and thoroughly enjoyable read. A retrospective that belies modern-day comparison Historian David McCullough has written a virtuoso retrospective of war that reflects marked parallels and divergences from the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq today.Having served in Iraq during the first Gulf war and in the jungles of South America in the halcyon days of the war on drugs, the talk of God as an ally when wisdom and courage fail, is all too salient, yet completely foreign to our domestic press. Similarly, morale and motivation in 1776 was viewed with a far less jaundice eye than it is today. And herein lie the schisms that our society has taken in the course of just 20 years separating WWII from Vietnam. Most notably, our free press, which has chosen to substitute the words "luck" for "blessing" and "impartiality" for "predisposition." No one can deny with straight face that the press is predisposed to object to all uses of military might when such might is wielded from right of center. Can you imagine what today's "impartial" media would have done to portray Washington as a despot and his minions as rebels? It is only what Washington did afterwards to reject his appointment as leader of this nation into perpetuity that has enabled him to avoid the revisionist's pen. This cannot be said, however, for the mass-murderer label befallen Columbus and the racist-hypocrite title that has rewritten the Jefferson legacy. Can you even fathom a media feeding frenzy during WWII over the mistreatment of "Mein Kampf" in American prison camps? Ultimately, this is what we're talking about: protecting the book that is the referential Bible for killing Americans. I only wish that the submersion of a Crucifix in a glass of urine, displayed in a publicly-funded museum, would spur such outrage. I more recently read a magnificent book by Kenneth Bucchi about his personal involvement in a top secret war on drugs and wondered how such a battle could possibly be waged in the light of media scrutiny. Frankly, it couldn't, and therein lies the reason why so much is kept from us. Highly recommend both books!