Perseverance and Spirit have done wonders in all ages.
   - General George Washington.

  1776, a close call with destiny.

  Looking back on the American revolution of 1776 we sometimes
think success was guaranteed.  In David McCulloughs splendid book "1776" 
we clearly see that it was not.
  The story is the gripping tale of american patriots like Nathanael Green,
age thirty three, who knew nothing of war except what he had read in books.
Patriots like twenty five year old bookseller Henry Knox - who joined the
cause with George Washington to fight the biggest army in the world.

  A weird assembly - the cause of liberty being led by a slavemaster
(Washington had more than 100 slaves). Still, in the end he is the one
who overcomes all the bad odds and makes independence real.
  In december 1776 he leads a down and out army of some 3.000 to the surprise attack,
Christmas night, on hessian forces in Trenton and later Princeton that turns
the tide.
  Before, he narrowly escapes the British and certain defeat in Brooklyn.
Where the american army eventually only escapes over the East river,
because of the curtain of night that conceals them, and later a heavy fog. Lucky.
Had they been spotted by the british - defeat would have been certain.
   At Kips Bay Washington finds his troops in panic. Turned cowards
in front of the enemy. When no one obeys and everyone runs in panic, 
Washington throws his hat to the ground, exclaiming in disgust: 
"Are these the men with which I am to defend America?".

   As he and his defeated men are chased through New Jersey
by the british, thousands of the good people in New Jersey
flock to the british camps to declare their loyalty. 
   Washingtons followers reduced to the most pitiful collection of ragged,
dispirited mortals that ever pretended to the name of an army.
   And as the sick and elderly were being abused, raped and murdered by british and 
Hessian forces in the New Jersey countryside, Washington forces quit in 
large numbers and returns home.
  And still, Christmas night, Washingtons men attack Trenton and conquers
1.500 Hessians - and turns the tide.

  In McCulloughs word: Washington was not a brilliant tactician,
not a gifted orator, not an intellectual. At several crucial moments
he had shown indecisiveness and mistakes in judgment. But he
never forgot what was at stake and he never gave up.

   What a story 1776 is. It makes sense that one book can't follow
events all the way to Yorktown or from the beginning with the Boston teaparty.
Simply 1776 has so much drama - that it is more than enough
for one book. But I will look forward to sequels.

-Simon
Simon Laub,  September 2007.
www.simonlaub.net

Amazon review, Oct 2007: Four stars (out of 5)

1776
David McCullough
Simon and Schuster paperbacks 2006.
American revolution (1775 - 1783).
1776, a close call with destiny.