DiscountDelight - 1776
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List Price: $32.00
Our Price: $7.00
Your Save: $ 25.00 ( 78% )
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Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780743226714
ISBN: 0743226712
Label: Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: 2005-05-24
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Studio: Simon & Schuster
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Accurate, yet boring
Comment: 1776 is a historically correct book, but it just drones on and on. Some parts are so incredibly boring that I actually fell asleep while reading it. Although McCullough is a great writer, he failed to make history interesting. Some people say this is a wonderfully descriptive book about the Revolutionary War, and it is. I just would not recommend reading this if you are my age. However, I do agree that everything in the book is very relevant and precise to what really happened. I learned a lot about American history while reading it, and it helped me better understand the Revolution.
Customer Rating:
Summary: So well-written it's almost like a time machine
Comment: This book reads like a page-turner novel even though it is meticulously researched. It is the best history of the first part of the American Revolution I've seen. It's the revolution "up close and personal," and it brings into vivid reality how close we came to losing the war. The hardships that the American rebels endured to win are mind-numbing.
The only reason for a four-star is that the title of the book is all-too-accurate: this is about the year 1776 only, and the book just stops abruptly in early 1777, after the end of the last campaign that began in 1776. It's as though McCullough decided, oh, that's enough for now.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Typical McCullough
Comment: McCullough's command of narrative is on display in 1776, though personally I liked John Adams more, hence the four stars instead of five. I'm acually going back and reading all of the authors' earlier books.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very good, but not great
Comment: 1776 was my first foray into McCullough's works, and I came away quite impressed. He has an incredible ability to relate the emotions and feelings of both ordinary soldiers and their commanding officers. Through the use of dozens of diaries and letters from both the British and American points of view, McCullough turns the entire campaign from the siege of Boston to the American victories at Trenton and Princeton into a living, breathing piece of history. We see Washington's (usually) unflappable facade hiding deep worry about the state of his army as well as his near disasterous indecision at crucial moments, the constant stream of defectors from both armies, Loyalists throughout the colonies greeting the British like saviors, the amazing ability of the Americans to construct defenses in an obscenely small period of time, and the sheer audacity and victory-or-death attitude of the Continental Armies' attack on Trenton to close 1776.
I do, however, have a few complaints. First, the book seems to be a bit lost in its purpose. It's billed as a companion piece to McCullough's John Adams biography, which I have not read. But the fact that the book is named for arguably the most recognizable year in US history seems to imply it will cover both the military AND political aspects of the year. This book focuses mostly on the military campaigns and relating background information. It does mention the Declaration of Independence and Common Sense a little, but only to reference how they fueled men to join up and fight for the "Glorious Cause".
Second, this book DESPERATELY needs more maps. There are a few maps included that were actually created around the same time period, and they are interesting (and visually attractive) pieces of history. But with the amount of detail that McCullough describes troop movements through the geography from Philadelphia to New England, a number of easily readable maps would be a perfect addition and really make this book better. Ferling (A Leap in the Dark) and Fischer (Washington's Crossing) both do a great job of utilizing maps in their works.
Overall, this book is simply a joy to read. It provides a fascinating look into the first major victories and defeats of the Continental Army, and illustrates how bad things were for Washington and his men in their first campaign. 1776 has its flaws, but ultimately these wouldn't keep me from recommending it to anyone interested in Revolutionary War history.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just a section of broader history
Comment: I'm a big fan of David McCullough, and 1776 is well-written and of course, well-researched, and flows with McCullough's love of history. Like his other works, it covers history accurately and in detail, without agenda and without reading like a textbook.
Nevertheless, 1776 was not McCullough's best book, and doesn't come close to the almost novel-like story of The Great Bridge and The Path Between the Seas, despite having a story that is more exciting than any novel.
The first problem is that 1776 isn't about 1776. I went into the book expecting to read more of the political events that 1776 was famous for. Instead, it was the story of Washington's military campaigns during 1776. As such, it was mostly a biography of Washington, without much detail about Washington's background. It covered little of skirmishs before 1776, nothing that happened after 1776, and mentioned the other military action taking place during 1776 only as it affected Washington's troops levels.
For this reason, it felt like I was reading one section out of a more comprehensive biography of Washington or the Revolutionary War.
Overall, for someone looking to learn about a critical phase of the Revolutionary War, there is probably no better book. For someone looking for a great read of history, I'd recommend The Great Bridge or The Path Between the Seas instead, which tell an exciting story from beginning to end.
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Editorial Reviews:
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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
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With his riveting, enlightening accounts of subjects from 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. 
