From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Bestselling historian and two-time Pulitzer winner McCullough follows up John Adams by staying with America's founding, focusing on a year rather than an individual: a momentous 12 months in the fight for independence. How did a group of ragtag farmers defeat the world's greatest empire? As McCullough vividly shows, they did it with a great deal of suffering, determination, ingenuity—and, the author notes, luck.Although brief by McCullough's standards, this is a narrative tour de force, exhibiting all the hallmarks the author is known for: fascinating subject matter, expert research and detailed, graceful prose. Throughout, McCullough deftly captures both sides of the conflict. The British commander, Lord General Howe, perhaps not fully accepting that the rebellion could succeed, underestimated the Americans' ingenuity. In turn, the outclassed Americans used the cover of night, surprise and an abiding hunger for victory to astonishing effect. Henry Knox, for example, trekked 300 miles each way over harsh winter terrain to bring 120,000 pounds of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston, enabling the Americans, in a stealthy nighttime advance, to seize Dorchester Heights, thus winning the whole city.Luck, McCullough writes, also played into the American cause—a vicious winter storm, for example, stalled a British counterattack at Boston, and twice Washington staged improbable, daring escapes when the war could have been lost. Similarly, McCullough says, the cruel northeaster in which Washington's troops famously crossed the Delaware was both "a blessing and a curse." McCullough keenly renders the harshness of the elements, the rampant disease and the constant supply shortfalls, from gunpowder to food, that affected morale on both sides—and it certainly didn't help the British that it took six weeks to relay news to and from London. Simply put, this is history writing at its best from one of its top practitioners.
0 有用 Llewsniav 2015-12-19 18:17:22
David McCullough当真会写历史,这样的历史读原版会更吸引人,用词很值得赞赏,通俗性和生动性兼具,每个人的描写都很有特色很鲜明,细节非常棒又不啰嗦。
1 有用 长亭 2014-11-19 00:38:42
书是很好的书,故事的收放都很好,没有刻意塑造偶像,各种引文穿插得也很流畅。但整本书是讲1776年的华盛顿与英军交战,并未对潘恩的《常识》,《独立宣言》的起草做交待。有点过于单线条,缺乏全局视角。这样一来,独立史又变成了战争中的英雄史。
0 有用 休云 2015-06-16 11:30:22
国内的商务印书馆出中文版了~
0 有用 沙拉勺子 2017-12-23 01:38:48
听从作者的建议,read more history.历史一向是我的弱项,等我读更多以后再回来反刍这本。能把历史讲的这么细却一点不啰嗦。有一些细节印象很深。
0 有用 munford 2011-02-15 12:06:39
McCullough的代表作之一,确实不错。他的历史书写的像小说。
0 有用 bagins 2024-05-09 11:53:12 上海
听
0 有用 uhuru 2020-11-25 22:55:44
写的挺有意思的一本历史书
0 有用 照叶 2020-06-20 06:37:14
本书的材料与Washington's crossing有很多重叠的地方,同时听/读的话容易混淆,应该把这本先听完。虽然叫1776,但它实际上从波士顿围城开始一直讲到普林斯顿之战。篇幅相对短小,叙事精彩纷呈,往往寥寥数语就勾勒出一个立体的人物,几个细节就揭示出某种事物的本质。值得思考的是美国的建国年不是“从胜利走向胜利”的一年,而是“至暗时刻”。作者本人的朗读不那么“字正腔圆”,但一把烟嗓听起来非常... 本书的材料与Washington's crossing有很多重叠的地方,同时听/读的话容易混淆,应该把这本先听完。虽然叫1776,但它实际上从波士顿围城开始一直讲到普林斯顿之战。篇幅相对短小,叙事精彩纷呈,往往寥寥数语就勾勒出一个立体的人物,几个细节就揭示出某种事物的本质。值得思考的是美国的建国年不是“从胜利走向胜利”的一年,而是“至暗时刻”。作者本人的朗读不那么“字正腔圆”,但一把烟嗓听起来非常舒服,远好于某些美国“播音员”的“机器人腔”。 (展开)
0 有用 尉迟恭 2018-11-23 00:09:53
黎明前的黑暗。
0 有用 沙拉勺子 2017-12-23 01:38:48
听从作者的建议,read more history.历史一向是我的弱项,等我读更多以后再回来反刍这本。能把历史讲的这么细却一点不啰嗦。有一些细节印象很深。