|
COPYRIGHT 2005 Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved. Any reuse, distribution or alteration without express written permission of Newsweek is prohibited. For permission: www.newsweek.com
Byline: Jon Meacham
In the cold first weeks of the year, the commander in chief of the Continental Army was close to despair. George Washington is usually depicted as the most unflappable of the founders--tall, cool, courageous. In our national mythology, he seems to have been born for immortality and destined for veneration, but late on these winter nights, headquartered in a house by the Charles River in Massachusetts, Washington was suffused with gloom. As David McCullough tells it in his new book, "1776," there were too few soldiers and too few guns; the American experiment might be over before it really even began.
"The reflection upon my situation and that of this army produces many an uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep," Washington wrote. "Few know the predicament we are in."
And few Americans in the first years of the 21st century have fully appreciated the complex character of the man who made us possible. For generations he has been the most distant of the Founders, but we are now in the midst of rediscovering the real Washington. Last year brought Joseph Ellis's best-selling "His Excellency," and next week McCullough, America's best-loved historian, is publishing his vivid account of Washington and the Continental Army that NEWSWEEK excerpts in the following pages.
"1776" is vintage McCullough: colorful, eloquent and illuminating. In reconstructing that epic year in the life of the American Revolution, he has given us a fresh portrait of Washington himself. Prone to...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|
Bookmark this article
Print this article
Link to this article
Email this article
Digg It!
Add to del.icio.us
RSS
