Book Review - 1776 by David McCullough

1776 by David McCullough
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (3 of 5 stars)

You should read this if: You love history and are okay with reading a collection of facts.

You should not read this if: You're looking for a comprehensive account of the American Revolution or a bigger picture narrative.

For those unaware, this book is very literally an account of the year 1776, only covering events from this specific year . I expected a comprehensive end-to-end book on the American Revolution and was disappointed to be essentially dropped into a book scoped to a single year. This book felt more like a history book and a collection of facts than a coherent narrative or account. There are few overarching themes and George Washington is basically the only character that is significantly followed.

History geeks may appreciate the many trivia tidbits provided. From the dress of the soldiers to the underlying political motivations of the British general, there's a lot of "wow, that's interesting" moments in 1776. But that's about as deep as the engagement becomes. Emotional connection to characters are nonexistent, and there's really barely a real story that is being followed. For people not familiar with American history, I imagine this book would be exceedingly confusing.

Audiobook Note - The audiobook seems to have two readers - a male and a female - seemingly arbitrarily switching between the two readers, confusing and distracting me. The rhyme or reason to the different readers is not at all clear.

Reading 1776 reminded me of reading a textbook, giving the feeling that I might be quizzed at some point about the various facts presented in the book. Meh. I don't get the praise for this book.

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