2007-10-05 Disappointing and limited look at the year

David McCullough's exploration of the year that the United States declared independence is disappointing both in what material he covers as well as what material he leaves out. Although the title is "1776", the book is actually about the first three major battles in which George Washington was the commander of American forces. Other events which occurred in that year such as the publishing of "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine and the signing of the Declaration of Independence are barely mentioned and then only in how they affected General Washington's command. The book ultimately is a brief discussion of the siege of Boston, the fall of New York City, and the battles of Trenton and Princeton. Unfortunately, McCullough is not a very good battle historian. His descriptions of the action make it very difficult to picture how the battles were fought and he includes no diagrams or illustrations to help explain the battlefield action. He does not describe the weapons used by either side.

McCullough also has a great deal of respect for George Washington, so much that he attempts to excuse Washington owning slaves. He makes a point to let us know that Washington freed his slaves after his death but fails to note that Washington had no children to inherit them. He also tries to make much of Washington having written a polite letter to an African-American woman who wrote him a poem. This trivializes the brutality of a system that Washington happily participated in and one in which he gained great wealth.

The narrative itself is rather choppy as McCullough frequently interrupts the flow of the story to provide narratives and letters written at the time. Although some are interesting, most simply repeat what McCullough has already discussed in the text. And there are quite a few spots in the text where McCullough has mangled his sentences. I found myself having to reread sentences because their structure was so poor. "He knew, as the enemy had no idea, just how big a country it was." Rewording would have helped this sentence immensely. "His council assembled, Washington made the case for an all-out amphibious assault on Boston, by sending troops across the shallow Back Bay in flat-bottomed boats big enough to carry fifty men each." So, did Washington make his case by sending the troops? Or did he make a case for sending the troops? Poor editing seems to be fairly common throughout the book.

Overall, the book is disappointing especially considering the many rave reviews it has received but it is still a fairly quick and easy read. If you are interested in a brief discussion of George Washington's early military career then the book could be worthwhile but I had expected much better from a two time Pulitzer Prize winner.