“When Mr. Dicckut, a history teacher and my volleyball coach, gave this book for me to read, I immediately panicked. First off, I have a very hard time understanding history by reading names and dates. He overheard me complaining about how I really didn't understand the period of time we were studying in history, which was the 1700's, and happily told me this book would be in my hands the next day. History is just something that I struggle picking up on. I started to read this book and so far it's working for me. This was a turbulent and confusing time, which makes it even more difficult for me. But the biggest problem I have with trying to decided wither I will finish this book or not is the fact of how much I will be informed. By reading this book, will I only know what happened in 1776? As much as I read this book, is it possible for me to understand it without knowing what happened the 76 years previous? I said before that I'm no history junkie by any means; I'd love to read this book and understand my history better, but I don't want to spend time reading something that in the end I won't even understand. On the other hand, this book could possibly inform me on many years besides the one stated. I just need some help from everyone else. Does anyone think it would be beneficial for me to continue reading this? ”
“Read what David Nudo has to say about David McCullough: http://shelfari.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/03/what-is-a-natio.html”
“Yes I felt the same way, asking myself what I was getting in to reading this book. What a surprise to find that it could capture my attention too as I got further in to it. To have his engineers come up with workable ways in which to move heavy artillery rapidly the way that they did at that time in history, simply amazes me that throughout history, the creative imagination man has when we put our minds to what needs to be done in the brief span of history that each lifetime brings us.”
“when i read this book first , i thought it was like any other dry history books. But no, there were the letters of the soldiers, private stories, and it showed that it was not all about "Glory and Honor and Flags",Washington a career driven officer who lived a lavish life before, that this war was a desperate struggle to get away from France, and that the real heroes were the soldiers, who signed in for a better future and to help their families.”
“I loved this book and was totally involved in it, then I got to the end and realized the War went on a few more years. Hopefully McCullough will write about the rest of the War years.”
“read Bruce Catton's books on the Civil War...he invented exciting history...”
“Too bad all history lessons can't be this exciting! I never realized how close the final outcome was, or how many victories depended on luck or the weather. I agree with sweetserenity, it gives a much better perspective on the era (even though it only covers one year) than anything I learned in school. ”
