The Fate Of The Day by Rick Atkinson

I read a review of this book that the writer had been reading this author's military histories for years and years--and maybe that was because they took years and years to come out. I had to laugh because this is meant to be the middle book of a trilopy but took over 5 years to be published after the first, and hope he manages to get through the third! Always seems like you should be pretty close to having it in the bag if tou announce how mant there will ultimately be. In any case, this volume covers 1777 to 1780 and goes through the uncertain future of the Revolution as the American Colonials faced defeat after defeat, super-cold winters (including one that could be said to have almost ended the rebellion at Valley Forge in 1777-78), and an ineffective Congress. In these middle years of the war, only a fateful victory at Saratoga, and the ill-fated occupation (and then withdrawal from) Philadelphia by the British, lifted American hopes that the British could actually be defeated. Otherwise, money shortages, shortages of ammunition and supplies, and deserting troops made American defeat very possible. The reader gets the sense of how back and forth the momentum was, how many mercenary soldiers were employed, and how tenuous the rebel position was. There are no whitewashes, and George Washington is presented as a troubled and flawed figure who wasn’t always the best general but who was doing as much as he could to bring the army together when he didn’t get much support from Congress. Other figures, both American and British, are given fresh looks. Nobody is a complete angel or devil. Instead, these figures are three-dimensional people with their own sides being presented as well as how others viewed them. Atkinson also doesn’t shy away from the darker areas of American history. Slavery and how slaves took part on both the American and British side, are well-represented in a clear fashion. Native Americans mostly fight with the British and the reasons why are fleshed out--and may have fueled future conflicts. Overall, this is very much a military description of this time period, with interesting back stories fleshed out but are not at the center of the story. Brace yourself, there is a lot of carnage.