Amanda Patterson's Reviews > 1776

With two Pulitzer Prizes under his belt, I have no doubt that David McCullough is a brilliant writer. That said, this book did not meet my expectations. I think what I was looking for was a sweeping narrative of the young nation's mood during this trying period of history. Instead what I got was a military play-by-play, with no great insight into General Washington's mind save for the occasional quoted letters and this: "He was not a brilliant strategist or tactician, not a gifted orator, not an intellectual. At several cruscial moments he had shown marked indecisiveness. He made serious mistakes in judgment. But experience had been his great teacher from boyhood, and in this his greatest test, he learned steadily from experience. Above all, Washington never forgot what was at stake and never gave up." Reads like something I would have written in a 5th grade report on a historic character of lure: "Above all, he never gave up"? I'd like McCullough to redeem himself in his account of the building of the Panama Canal, which I'll add to my bookshelf now. Anyone want to let me borrow a copy? *hint: Noz?