His staid personality comes through, not just in his war exploits but also in his personal dealings with his officers and his men.Ĭhapter 1 opens in London after the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, as King George III and Parliament grappled with how to respond to the potential war with the colonies. In addition to chronicling George Washington’s heroic battles, it also gives a thorough report of his early life, his educational background, his marriage to Martha Custis, his life as a wealthy Virginia planter, and his love of architecture and home decor. His desire to bring the colonies back into the fold seems sincere, but McCullough allows readers to decide for themselves. It opens with King George III, the king of England and a villain by most American accounts, seen as having less in common with other royalty than with many commoners. The book also paints objective, detailed portraits of some of the most important American and British participants of the war. Unlike other histories that focus on narrating the Continental Congress’s development of the ideas of “freedom” and “liberty” as they applied to the colonies, this book takes the reader into the trenches, following each of Washington’s battles with his New England militiamen, who were completely untrained and, according to some, unfit for battle. In recounting Revolutionary War losses and retreats as well as major successes, the book centers primarily on George Washington.
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