Review: 1776

In 2003 I was given a gift card.  I forgot why.  I think it was my birthday.  The gift card was to a bookstore.  I didn’t know what to buy, so I bought the first book I recognized.  It was The Cider House Rules.

Maybe that was when my curiosity about reading kicked in, because at some point in the coming months I would notice a book called 1776.  It had a man from the Revolutionary War on the cover.  I didn’t know much about the Revolutionary War.  I took note of the book.
In 2009 I started reading books from a comprehensive list I had found thanks to Google.  I added 1776 to the list.  I had wanted to read it to learn about the Revolutionary War.  I actually might have thought it was about the Civil War.  This is completely feasible because I don’t think I had a clear understanding of the difference of the two wars in terms of there periods on a timeline scale.  I obviously had a poor handle on history.

I bought the book before going to Australia.  It came in hardcover.  It was too bulky to travel, and so I displaced it from my gear and on a shelf it sat for over a year.

It was a long time coming this book.  Several years, trips, and a much better handle on North American history, at last I have read the book.

I liked it.

It’s not like most history books.  What is a history book anyway?  If it is a book that talks about history, than this is one.  A lot of books include history into their context.  I think when we think of a History Book, we think of fact after bland coma-like sleep inducing narrative fact.  That’s a history book to me.  In that case, this is not a history book.  This book is a non-fictional story account of a historic year in the separation of a fledgling country from its mother country.

I had thought the book would encompass the entire Revolutionary War, of which I now know the difference from the Civil War which I am inclined to mention out of a full on attempt at preserving my own self respect.  This book doesn’t cover the entire war.  It doesn’t go into much detail of before or after the actual year of 1776.  No, this isn’t so much of a book about the Revolutionary War at all.

That’s what I get for having pre-conceived ideas!  Classic case.  Happens every time.  This is a spit shine example of why I say that a good movie is best appreciated if you have no idea what it is about before watching it.  Apply that theory to many.  It’s versatile like that.

So to cut right to it, the rebels almost lost.  You could say they were lucky.  You could also say they are we.  You could say a lot of things.  Perhaps it was divine intervention!  Fate?  Skill?  Luck?  The Tooth Fairy? (my vote).  It was big military vs little military, and big military had all the cards.  Little military was getting beat pretty bad.  Big military didn’t capitalize on a few opportunities to end the war, little military eeked out with a limp and a hobble.  Little military lived to fight another day.

1776 was a close year, where the outcome of the country of the United States was determined by a few close calls and a little help from the Tooth Fairy and that is what the book was about.  The books ends on a cliffhanger and you never find out who wins.

I still liked it.