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1776
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
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Editorial reviews
Why we think it’s a great listen: If you ever thought history was boring, David McCullough’s performance of his fascinating book will change your mind. In this stirring audiobook, McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence, when the whole American cause was riding on their success.
Publisher's summary
In this stirring audiobook, David McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence, when the whole American cause was riding on their success, without which all hope for independence would have been dashed and the noble ideals of the Declaration would have amounted to little more than words on paper.
Based on extensive research in both American and British archives, 1776 is the story of Americans in the ranks, men of every shape, size, and color, farmers, schoolteachers, shoemakers, no-accounts, and mere boys turned soldiers. And it is the story of the British commander, William Howe, and his highly disciplined redcoats, who looked on their rebel foes with contempt and fought with a valor too little known. But it is the American commander-in-chief who stands foremost: Washington, who had never before led an army in battle.
The darkest hours of that tumultuous year were as dark as any Americans have known. Especially in our own tumultuous time, 1776 is powerful testimony to how much is owed to a rare few in that brave founding epoch, and what a miracle it was that things turned out as they did.
Written as a companion work to his celebrated biography of John Adams, David McCullough's 1776 is another landmark in the literature of American history.
Critic reviews
- 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Narration by the Author
- 2005 Publishers Weekly Listen Up Award, Nonfiction
"A first-rate historical account." (Booklist)
"A narrative tour de force, exhibiting all the hallmarks the author is known for: fascinating subject matter, expert research, and detailed, graceful prose.... Simply put, this is history writing at its best from one of its top practitioners." (Publishers Weekly)
"A stirring and timely work, reminding us that it's soldiers rather than 'tavern patriots and windy politicians' who have always paid the price of American idealism and determined its successes. (The New York Times)
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OUTSTANDING! I'M PROUD TO BE A BLACK AMERICAN!!
- By The Louligan on 08-22-13
By: Shelby Foote
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William Tecumseh Sherman
- In the Service of My Country: A Life
- By: James Lee McDonough
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 28 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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General Sherman's 1864 burning of Atlanta solidified his legacy as a ruthless leader. Yet Sherman proved far more complex than his legendary military tactics reveal. James Lee McDonough offers fresh insight into a man tormented by the fear that history would pass him by, who was plagued by personal debts, and who lived much of his life separated from his family.
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Very Fair and Balanced View of Sherman
- By Nostromo on 12-02-16
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Patriotic Fire
- Andrew Jackson and Jean Laffite at the Battle of New Orleans
- By: Winston Groom
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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This audio program has all the ingredients of a high-flying adventure story. Unbeknownst to the combatants, the War of 1812 has ended. But Andrew Jackson, a brave, charismatic American general, sick with dysentery and commanding a beleaguered garrison, leads a desperate struggle to hold on to New Orleans and to thwart the army that defeated Napoleon.
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A Great Book About A Fascinating Battle
- By David I. Williams on 05-12-13
By: Winston Groom
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Almost a Miracle
- The American Victory in the War of Independence
- By: John Ferling
- Narrated by: David Baker
- Length: 26 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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In this gripping chronicle of America's struggle for independence, award-winning historian John Ferling transports listeners to the grim realities of that war, capturing an eight-year conflict filled with heroism, suffering, cowardice, betrayal, and fierce dedication. As Ferling demonstrates, it was a war that America came much closer to losing than is now usually remembered. General George Washington put it best when he said that the American victory was "little short of a standing miracle."
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Dramatic Backstory of The War for Independence
- By Amazon Customer on 11-22-15
By: John Ferling
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Clouds of Glory
- The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee
- By: Michael Korda
- Narrated by: Jack Garrett
- Length: 32 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee, Michael Korda, the New York Times best-selling biographer of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ulysses S. Grant, and T. E. Lawrence, has written the first major biography of Lee in nearly 20 years, bringing to life America's greatest and most iconic hero. Korda paints a vivid and admiring portrait of Lee as a general and a devoted family man
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Good But Not Great
- By David Wardell on 05-12-15
By: Michael Korda
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Band of Giants
- The Amateur Soldiers Who Won America's Independence
- By: Jack Kelly
- Narrated by: James C. Lewis
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin are known to all; men like Morgan, Greene, and Wayne are less familiar. Yet the dreams of the politicians and theorists became real only because fighting men were willing to take on the grim, risky, brutal work of war. The soldiers of the American Revolution were a diverse lot: merchants and mechanics, farmers and fishermen, paragons and drunkards. Most were ardent amateurs.
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in-depth, revealing of occurrences seldom taught
- By Sarah on 03-22-17
By: Jack Kelly
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Paul Revere's Ride
- By: David Hackett Fischer
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Paul Revere's midnight ride looms as an almost mythical event in American history - yet it has been largely ignored by scholars and left to patriotic writers and debunkers. In Paul Revere's Ride, David Hackett Fischer fashions an exciting narrative that offers deep insight into the outbreak of revolution and the emergence of the American republic. Beginning in the years before the eruption of war, Fischer illuminates the figure of Paul Revere.
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Damn
- By Claudio on 06-24-17
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Washington's Immortals
- The Untold Story of an Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolution
- By: Patrick K. O’Donnell
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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In August 1776, a little over a month after the Continental Congress had formally declared independence from Britain, the revolution was on the verge of a sudden and disastrous end. General George Washington found his troops outmanned and outmaneuvered at the Battle of Brooklyn, and it looked like there was no escape. But thanks to a series of desperate rear-guard attacks by a single heroic regiment, famously known as the Immortal 400, Washington was able to evacuate his men, and the nascent Continental Army lived to fight another day.
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Spectacular
- By Robert Everman on 04-26-16
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Igniting the American Revolution
- 1773-1775
- By: Derek W. Beck
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Few Americans know that the Revolutionary War did not begin with the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, but over a year earlier, in April 1775. Now historian Derek Beck draws on previously unpublished documents to tell the full story of the war before American independence - from both sides. Spanning the years 1773 to 1776, this audiobook sweeps listeners from the Boston Tea Party to the halls of Parliament - where Ben Franklin was almost run out of England for pleading on behalf of the colonies.
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Learned so much!
- By tracey68 on 10-15-17
By: Derek W. Beck
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Memoirs of General William T. Sherman
- By: William T. Sherman
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 34 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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First published in 1875, General William T. Sherman's memoir was one of the first from the Civil War and was offered to the public because, as Sherman wrote in his dedication, "no satisfactory history" of the war was yet available. Although Memoirs has been revised and corrected many times over the years, Sherman famously never changed the original text of his recollections.
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Not for a beginner.
- By Black Knight on 05-20-17
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An outstanding biography
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Great
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A Pitch for History
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The Pioneers
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The number one New York Times best seller by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important chapter in the American story that's "as resonant today as ever" (The Wall Street Journal) - the settling of the Northwest Territory by courageous pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would define our country.
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i would prefer david reading it
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The American Spirit
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Over the course of his distinguished career, David McCullough has spoken before Congress, colleges and universities, historical societies, and other esteemed institutions. Now, at a time of self-reflection in America following a bitter election campaign that has left the country divided, McCullough has collected some of his most important speeches in a brief volume designed to identify important principles and characteristics that are particularly American.
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Our New "OLD MAN ELOQUENT" Rides Again
- By Ray on 04-21-17
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Washington
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In Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. This crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian War, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president.
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A sad day when my book was done!
- By ButterLegume on 12-13-10
By: Ron Chernow
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John Adams
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
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McCullough's John Adams has the sweep and vitality of a great novel. This is history on a grand scale, an audiobook about politics, war, and social issues, but also about human nature, love, religious faith, virtue, ambition, friendship, and betrayal, and the far-reaching consequences of noble ideas. Above all, it is an enthralling, often surprising story of one of the most important and fascinating Americans who ever lived.
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An outstanding biography
- By Davis on 07-10-06
By: David McCullough
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Great
- By Greg Lacey on 05-27-05
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On May 15, 2003, David McCullough presented "The Course of Human Events" as The 2003 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities in Washington, DC. The Jefferson Lecture is a tribute to McCullough's lifetime investigation of history.
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A Pitch for History
- By Alan on 09-13-05
By: David McCullough
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The Pioneers
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i would prefer david reading it
- By hooterwah on 05-07-19
By: David McCullough
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Our New "OLD MAN ELOQUENT" Rides Again
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A sad day when my book was done!
- By ButterLegume on 12-13-10
By: Ron Chernow
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Truman
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Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American.
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That Mousy Little Man From Missouri Revisited
- By Sara on 07-23-15
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The Wright Brothers
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Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize David McCullough tells the dramatic story behind the story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly: Wilbur and Orville Wright.
On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright's Wright Flyer became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard. The Age of Flight had begun. How did they do it? And why?
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Disappointing
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Winner of the 1982 National Book Award for Biography, Mornings on Horseback is the brilliant biography of the young Theodore Roosevelt. Hailed as a masterpiece by Newsday, it is the story of a remarkable little boy -- seriously handicapped by recurrent and nearly fatal attacks of asthma -- and his struggle to manhood.
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Did not like this one
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Brave Companions
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The best-selling author of Truman and John Adams, David McCullough has written profiles of exceptional men and women past and present who have not only shaped the course of history or changed how we see the world but whose stories express much that is timeless about the human condition. Here are Alexander von Humboldt, whose epic explorations of South America surpassed the Lewis and Clark expedition; Harriet Beecher Stowe, "the little woman who made the big war”....
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I USUALLY LOVE THIS GUY
- By Randall on 01-28-19
By: David McCullough
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The Great Bridge
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This monumental book tells the enthralling story of one of the greatest accomplishments in our nation's history, the building of what was then the longest suspension bridge in the world. The Brooklyn Bridge rose out of the expansive era following the Civil War, when Americans believed all things were possible.
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An Historian and not a Novelist
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By: David McCullough
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The Greater Journey
- Americans in Paris
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The Greater Journey is the enthralling, inspiring—and until now, untold—story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, architects, and others of high aspiration who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, ambitious to excel in their work.
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McCullough takes it to the next level
- By gregory m loyd on 07-12-11
By: David McCullough
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The Path Between the Seas
- The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
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The Path Between the Seas tells the story of the men and women who fought against all odds to fulfill the 400-year-old dream of constructing an aquatic passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a story of astonishing engineering feats, tremendous medical accomplishments, political power plays, heroic successes, and tragic failures. McCullough expertly weaves the many strands of this momentous event into a captivating tale.
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No Stone Unturned
- By Tim on 06-25-13
By: David McCullough
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The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789
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The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.
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Strong History Rich With Behind The Scenes Details
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The Johnstown Flood
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At the end of the last century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hardworking families striving for a piece of the nation's burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity, among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon.
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A page-turner! HIstory that reads like a novel
- By Susan K Donley on 06-17-05
By: David McCullough
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Alexander Hamilton
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Historians have long told the story of America’s birth as the triumph of Jefferson’s democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton. Chernow presents an entirely different man, whose legendary ambitions were motivated not merely by self-interest but by passionate patriotism and a stubborn will to build the foundations of American prosperity and power.
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An Outstanding & Riveting Book!
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By: Ron Chernow
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Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
- By: Jon Meacham
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In this magnificent biography, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Lion and Franklin and Winston brings vividly to life an extraordinary man and his remarkable times. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power gives us Jefferson the politician and president, a great and complex human being forever engaged in the wars of his era.
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A Man and Biography Relevant to Our Day
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By: Jon Meacham
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John Adams
- By: David McCullough
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With the sweep and vitality of a great novel, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough presents the enthralling story of John Adams. This is history on a grand scale - an audiobook about politics, war, and social issues, but also about human nature, love, religious faith, virtue, ambition, friendship and betrayal, and the far-reaching consequences of noble ideas. Read by History Channel host Edward Herrmann!
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fantastic
- By Thomas on 07-06-06
By: David McCullough
What listeners say about 1776
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Mark
- 10-22-05
Front Seat on History
1776 was the first Audible book I have ever purchased and it raises the bar upon which all other books will be compared. It's special to have the Pulitzer Prize author read his own book. Having grown up outside Boston, our history classes only covered the more famous events - Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's ride, and Bunker Hill.
I never knew about George Washington's siege of Boston (and I lived there) that drove out the British or the horrendous conditions of the continental army. I was never taught about the importance of New York or the loss after loss of battles. McCullough covers the heroes, villians, and traitors in exquisite detail. Did you know that the first American traitor was the Continental Army Surgeon General or that wives, fighting next to their husbands, distinguished themselves in battle?
David McCullough's 1776 puts you right there - like a time machine. He masterfully tells a story and painstakingly reinforces its authenticity with letters from the people who were there. This is one of the finest historical novels I have ever "read" and I look forward to his John Adams books. There is little doubt that I will have to listen to it again... Now I know where the name Fort Knox came from.
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113 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Shawn
- 05-30-05
Great Book
After hearing David McCullough for so long on narratives on TV, who cannot doubt that he has one of the best voices around. His voice reads first class material, self authored. 1776 chronicles the events on the North American continent of one of the most important years in the last millenium. It begins just after Lexington/Concord and carries through the significance of Trenton/Princeton.
Listening to it, I gathered a great sense about the particular acts, which severed the already fragile relationship of the English America with the mother country. The character of the two countries, still recognizable today, comes across in the story of the military and political contests of that year.
It is delightful and well worth the time listening.
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91 people found this helpful
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Overall
- D. Littman
- 06-03-05
Very good, light, critical history
This is very good, relatively light & short, critical history. It is not enormously scholarly (I imagine that the paper volume is short on footnotes & bibliography), but it is in the inimitable McCullough tradition -- well-written, well-paced, not excessively fawning or deliberately breast-beating patriotic (in contrast to the late Stephen Ambrose's approach to just about everything), contains a good mixture of narrative, analysis & criticism, and helps the reader understand (both "novice" and the historiographers among us) the implications of what happened. An excellent complement to this work, also enormously readable but with a greater claim on original scholarship, is David Hackett Fischer's "Washington's Crossing," which is available on Audible as well. McCullough himself is the narrator, and he reads with vigor & emphasis, helping things move along.
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51 people found this helpful
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Overall
- DWM
- 11-03-08
Amazing how little you know
The story is compelling (of course) and the author brings to life the period in perfect detail. There's lots of detail that anyone inclined to like history would enjoy. This is a great opportunity to appreciate what these men did and how important the fundamental values established by the founders. As I listened, I was amazed either how much history I forgot or was never taught.
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44 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Kareem Olalekan
- 03-30-08
It tantalized my taste buds
Just spent the whole of my Sunday learning the American History from the declaration of independence right through to the abolition of slavery by President Lincoln(and of course the American Civil war)...and I am no American! This book, although focusing on the events leading to the declaration of independent, offers a lot of insight into the operations of the old British Empire and why America is what it is today.
The template of history can and should be applied today. A lesson perhaps, to our leaders.
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38 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Beegee
- 01-30-08
The American Revolution Made Real
David McCullough brilliantly illuminates one year in the struggle of our nation's first army under the command of the man who, deservedly, became our first President. George Washington, (as well as the men who served under him), is revealed by McCullough to be a flawed human being who made plenty of mistakes, some of which could have cost this country its independence. Impatient and, at times, overcome with anger, he is also shown to have been wise and calculating, in his dealings with and estimation of, the British commanders he had to outwit, as well as some of the generals who advised him. The American Revolution should have been this colorfully rendered and detailed in the history texts used when I was in grade school. McCullough is a brilliant historian and writer who makes his subjects as real as if they were alive today. There were times where, in listening to this audiobook, I found myself wondering ahead how Washington and the increasingly dwindling, ragtag army that he commanded would ever be able to overcome the overwhelming odds against them. Of course, I knew they did eventually prevail in the struggle to win the Revolutionary War, but McCullough writes in such a way as to keep you guessing. He makes the subject accessible, alive, interesting and even thrilling, too.
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33 people found this helpful
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- Cynthia
- 03-24-15
An Indecisive George Washington
One of the first Audio books I listened to, ever, was David McCullough's 2001 biography "John Adams." My small town's very small library had books on CDs, and that was one of them. There were 15? 16? discs in a black plastic container, warped from sitting on the front seat of people's cars. Prying discs out of the container could be distracting and difficult, and hit the wrong button on the dash? You'd spend the next 5 miles fast forwarding and reviewing, trying to find your place. I was hooked anyway.
McCullough's "1776" (2005) is a wonderful study of the nascent United States of America and the evolution of the revolutionary war. As a child growing up in the Midwest, I learned that overthrow of British rule was predestined. "1776" makes it clear that the winner was far from foreordained. The war was fought on the backs of poorly equipped citizen soldiers who enlisted for a year, and then walked off, en masse, when their terms were done. Stop-loss? That came at the end of the 20th Century. General George Washington was constantly writing letters, pleading for funding from congress for his troops. Some things are the same more than two centuries later.
I've read or listened to dozens of books about the founding of America and the struggle for independence, but I missed the fact that George Washington as a perfect, sharply competent and unquestioned military leader was a myth. He spent a good part of 1776 in an indecisive fog, squandering opportunities that were obvious at the time, and not just in hindsight. Washington made basic tactical errors that lost battles, such as dividing corps that should have remained together. His errors were the errors that an educated, professionally trained military officer would not have made, and Washington recognized that. Even in the middle of making grave mistakes, he suggested founding what became the United States Military Academy at West Point. Washington also established something we take for granted now: enlistment bonuses and veteran's benefits. Washington as a demigod is easy to admire but impossible to relate to. McCullough makes Washington relatable, and aspirational.
Something else I didn't realize: Just how many people were loyalists and supported British rule. As far as they were concerned, the founding fathers were armed insurgents. People who had lived in the American colonies for generations emigrated to England rather than renounce allegiance to King George III. Even Congress was divided on the issue - not every elected official signed the Declaration of Independence. In 1776, who was a Patriot and who was a Traitor was really a matter of perspective. Patrick Henry was a hero to Americans, but anathema to the British.
McCullough's writing is evocative and provocative. It made a good listen, although it would have been helpful if he had reintroduced some of the more minor figures that made appearances hours apart. I liked the narration - the pacing was good, and the sound crisp.
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Overall
- Thomas Allen
- 09-06-08
Journey of great peril, heroism, and growth
First, I have to say that the description of the crossing of the Delaware had me so excited that I was short of breath. I had the painting on the subject firmly in my mind and was thrilled to be hearing the retelling.
As the book contains excellent lessons in strength in leadership, I was enthralled as it wound its way through the evolution of General Washington and his counsel. And it shows the great importance of surrounding yourself with great people but making strong and final decisions.
And I came away from the book incredibly proud to be an American. The sacrifices and hardships described in this book give me great reason to stand with my head high.
I'll finish by summarizing my thoughts in two words: "Get it!"
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Overall
- Bob Montgomery
- 06-22-05
1776 Brings Period To Life
I generally grab a book on tape for long driving trips
to make the time slide by...historical books rarely fit
the bill for long all night drives.
McCoullough's book and narration proved the exception, I
had a great time with the nearly 12 hours. He weaves 1st
hand accounts deftly into a compelling story of the
desperation of the 1st year of the revolutionary war.
I must confess an interest in history, but even those not
disposed to historical accounts will find his artful use
of the characters own words to paint rich character portraits
enjoyable. He has a keen eye for understated humor which
I found particularly enjoyable.
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Overall
- Scott
- 06-09-05
Can't quit talking about 1776
I am definitely a "sneezer" when it comes to 1776. I can not quit talking about this book and about what this history means to me. If you wnat a lesson on perseverance, this is the right book!David McCullough brings the Revolutionary War right in your living room. The way McCullough writes, you feel as though you have been placed right in the middle of everything that was going on in 1776. GET THIS BOOK!!!!!!
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