Happy Fourth of July!

"When is the time for brave men to exert themselves 

in the cause of liberty and their country, if this is not?" 

--George Washington

"Never was a cause more important or glorious than that which you are engaged in ... for if tyranny should prevail in this great country, we may expect liberty will expire throughout the world. Therefore, more human glory and happiness may depend upon your exertions than ever yet depended upon any of the sons of men."   

 --A Freeman

1776 seems like the perfect July read, doesn't it?  In its well-written pages, David McCullough brings to life the events leading up to, and the months just after, the signing of the Declaration of Independence; it also tells the story of the men who helped bring it all about. Those self-educated and self-made men like George Washington, who had never led an army into battle, but who took on the role of Commander in Chief; and Nathaniel Green, a Quaker from Rhode Island who learned everything he knew about war from reading books and who became a general at thirty-three; and Henry Knox, a bookseller from Boston who had the audacious idea to haul the heavy cannons abandoned at Fort Ticonderoga all the way to Boston in the middle of winter. He was just twenty-five. But it's not just about these heroes. "It is the story of Americans in the ranks, men of every shape, size, and color, farmers, schoolteachers, shoemakers, no-accounts, and mere boys turned into soldiers." Well-researched and well-told, 1776 is the powerful human story of mistakes and defeat, patriotism, courage, struggle, loss, faith, perseverance, and victory. It is the story of America herself. And I'm so glad I read it; I really learned a lot.

"From the last week of August to the last week of December, the year 1776 had been as dark a time as those devoted to the American cause had ever known--indeed, as dark a time as any in the history of the country. And suddenly, miraculously it seemed, that had changed because of a small band of determined men and their leader."

--David McCullough

"The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth."

--Thomas Paine

Happy Reading!

Valley Forge

"Over Washington's own long bullet of a winter, his army had overcome a season of logistical nightmares that would have brought a European force to its knees. Like pig iron stripped of its impurities and annealed into steel, his remaining regiments were emerging stronger for their ordeals. ... Valley Forge had been the crucible they had all come through together, the very reason the forces of the nascent United States were now poised to alter the course of the revolution."

 Valley Forge by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin chronicles the winter of 1777-1778. It was a time of desperate starvation and deprivation for George Washington and his troops. And if General Howe (the British general in charge of the soldiers occupying Philadelphia that same winter) had attacked the Continental Army at Valley Forge, the British might well have won the war. But he didn't. And the men who survived the extremities of Valley Forge went on to help win the revolution.

This book is a fascinating account of what took place that important year. It's very well-researched and describes the battles as well as the backgrounds of all the main players from Washington himself to his three favorite aides de camp:  Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens, and the Marquis de Lafayette. And it definitely deepened my respect and admiration for George Washington and the men who fought and served with him. But all that rich historic detail means it doesn't always read fast. (A few chapters were a bit of a slog.) Still, I learned a lot. And I'm very glad I read it.

Happy Reading!

Two excellent companion reads:

A much faster and
equally interesting read.

Check out my review here.

And if fiction's more your style:

A Great July Read...

The Declaration of Independence was the promise;

The Constitution was the fulfillment.

The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia in 1787. Over the course of that summer, 55 men from 12 states worked to create the Constitution of the United States of America. (Rhode Island did not participate.) The rooms where they met were hot and stifling, secrecy was paramount, and they didn't always agree.

"When a broad table is to be made, and the edges of the planks do not fit, the artist takes a little from both, and makes a good joint. In like manner here both sides must part with some of their demands in order that they may join in some accommodating  proportion."                      --Benjamin Franklin

George Washington acted as President of the Convention and oversaw the process; Benjamin Franklin and James Madison were two of the delegates. Who were the rest? Plain, Honest Men. And Richard Beeman tells their story in this amazing account of the birth of our constitution. I loved this book. And I have great respect for all of these men. This is a moment in our country's history that should not be forgotten.

At the conclusion of the Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked,

"What have you wrought?" He answered, "...a Republic, if you can keep it."

Other great July reads:

Happy Reading!

And Happy 4th of July!!