To begin, then, at the end: “The outcome seemed little short of a miracle.” David McCullough, one of America’s most famous and lucid historians, has written a splendid history of a crucial year in history of not only America, but the world. Today many Americans tend to be rather jingoistic of this year, imperishable from the pages of history. Yet McCullough wonderfully makes a very persuasive case and tells a remarkably human story of the difficulty – indeed impossibility – of the outcome. Many Americans, indeed the British, forget that at the beginning the rebels had lost four battles: Brooklyn, Kips Bay, White Plains, and Fort Washington. (And they had “cowardly” left Fort Lee without a fight.) The situation seemed so dense and outcome so different that even Joseph Reed and General Lee had lost faith in the commanding yet salient personality of George Washington. McCullough, though a quintessentially American gentleman, must be applauded for not writing a chauvinistic history, where the British are stereotypically depicted as cruel masters and Americans, fighting for the freedom against the treacherous Crown. This remarkable historian writes – indeed illustrated – a story of human beings. He vindicates that leaders and generals were also ordinary men; hence, prone to the same infallibilities and ambition and avarice.

A simply astonishing book. The breadth of knowledge, compelling research and writing is unbelievable. Mccullough focuses on just the one year, 1776, and provides a stunning narrative of the crucial battles and moments that led to the creation of America. Anyone interested in the history of America will be blown away by this masterpiece.