1776 Review

McCullough paints a picture in this book.  His powerful imagery puts a clear image in your mind.  I felt a if I was in New York, or Trenton, watching the battles take place.  For example, Before the battle of Trenton, He gives an in-depth description of the town.  “Trenton was often referred to as a pretty village, which was an exaggeration.  With perhaps a hundred houses, an Episcopal Church, and two or three mills and iron furnaces.”  He could just say they fought in Trenton, plainly, and I wouldn’t complain.  He doesn’t, he wants you to be there with him.  That is my favorite aspect of the writing of this book.  He makes plain facts fascinating. 

David McCullough portrays General George Washington as a respected, feared presence in the army.  When Things are out of order, and Washington steps in, and stops it immediately.  “(He) rushed into the thickest of the melee, with an iron grip seized two tall, brawny, athletic, savage looking riflemen by the throat, keeping them at arm’s length, alternating shaking and talking to them.”  He held discipline over a group of men previously not instilled with it. 

Three sections of pictures, documents, and maps are included in this book.  They give faces to the people McCullough is writing about.  I believe they enhance the value of the book, and they shed light on some of the lesser known heroes of the war; at least to the common man. 

This book does contribute to history.  It’s seemingly endless amount of primary sources give it credibility, and it is well circulated.  It was a number one national best seller.  It has been well circulated.  It is very well rated; one writer going as far as saying it “should be required reading in living rooms from coat to coast.  It will make it’s mark on history.