chanson7908's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
exjf56's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
cameronbmoon's review against another edition
4.0
Am I… a patriot? This was impressively put together, I wish every major historical event had a book like this, I would read them all. Havn’t thought of the revolutionary war since whenever we had a unit on it in grade school.
lleroux's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
2.0
Not for me. Very detailed information but I would have preferred to read in it novel form instead of dissertation…
kurtwombat's review against another edition
4.0
History parades before us in many forms—quite often corrupted. Was Dolly Madison the wife of the fourth President of the United States or a baking company known for its ZINGERS? Gradually time calcifies the perception of history until the shape of it is all we see. And we get used to it—even rely on it as a short hand. Partly because of this I had assumed I had a decent general knowledge of the Revolutionary War. I have wanted to read something by David McCullough for some time. Having both 1776 and his John Adams bio on the shelf I pondered. I chose 1776 thinking the briefer time frame under consideration might allow me to walk before I learned to run with a new (to me) author. I assumed as I read that I’d be checking off familiar moments in history paying closer attention whenever John Adams was mentioned as a kind of prep for the more substantial book to come. I was surprised as I read 1776 that it all felt completely new to me. Events don’t unfold in domino fashion and even when they appear to, the fascination is derived from just how easily everything could have been different. McCullough does a marvelous job of breathing life into history we think we know. 1776 is certainly not the whole war but it is that part of the war that defined how the war would play out. The author unfolds the participants on both sides of the Atlantic revealing how they would rise or fail to rise to the coming war. Attention is given equally to weather of a given day, the perceptions of a soldier or baker or general, and the decisions of those wielding the most power. The thoroughly rendered details inform the world from which springs history broken from its calcification and allowed to breath. The pivotal character amidst all this is of course Washington who was clearly not the same man at the end of the year as he was at the beginning. America was not the same place by the end of that year. And thankfully I do not have the same view of the Revolutionary War that I did when the book began.
pinkfall's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
bri_noyes1's review against another edition
4.0
I hadn’t realized how BAD circumstances were for the continental army were and how utterly discouraging things were. New appreciation for the many miracles, bravery, and leadership during that year of history.