The Fate of the Day
The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In the second volume of the landmark American Revolution trilogy by the bestselling author of The British Are Coming, George Washington’s army fights on the knife edge between victory and defeat.
Rick Atkinson is featured in the new Ken Burns documentary The American Revolution, premiering ahead of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
“This is great history . . . compulsively readable . . . There is no better writer of narrative history than the Pulitzer Prize–winning Atkinson.”—The New York Times (Editors’ Choice)
ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, Kirkus Reviews
The first twenty-one months of the American Revolution—which began at Lexington and ended at Princeton—was the story of a ragged group of militiamen and soldiers fighting to forge a new nation. By the winter of 1777, the exhausted Continental Army could claim only that it had barely escaped annihilation by the world’s most formidable fighting force.
Two years into the war, George III is as determined as ever to bring his rebellious colonies to heel. But the king’s task is now far more complicated: fighting a determined enemy on the other side of the Atlantic has become ruinously expensive, and spies tell him that the French and Spanish are threatening to join forces with the Americans.
Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson provides a riveting narrative covering the middle years of the Revolution. Stationed in Paris, Benjamin Franklin woos the French; in Pennsylvania, George Washington pleads with Congress to deliver the money, men, and materiel he needs to continue the fight. In New York, General William Howe, the commander of the greatest army the British have ever sent overseas, plans a new campaign against the Americans—even as he is no longer certain that he can win this searing, bloody war. The months and years that follow bring epic battles at Brandywine, Saratoga, Monmouth, and Charleston, a winter of misery at Valley Forge, and yet more appeals for sacrifice by every American committed to the struggle for freedom.
Timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the Revolution, Atkinson’s brilliant account of the lethal conflict between the Americans and the British offers not only deeply researched and spectacularly dramatic history, but also a new perspective on the demands that a democracy makes on its citizens.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This epic history of the American Revolutionary War covers every angle with astounding detail, digging into everything from slavery to international relations to soldiers’ everyday lives. The second of three volumes in historian Rick Atkinson’s American Revolution collection, The Fate of the Day details the war as not just a battle between Washington and the British, but also as an international conflict, with French royals putting their fingers on the scales from luxurious palaces and German peasants being recruited to help the British. The ever-thorough Atkinson has a knack for eye-catching details, be it snarky remarks from courtiers and generals or the rousing army musicians who entertained on the war’s sidelines. Yet he never loses sight of the big picture, carefully explaining the motivations of everyday people for defending the king or establishing a new nation. If you crave deep and balanced knowledge of pivotal moments of American history, this is essential reading.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
From chaotic bloodshed emerges a coherent struggle for freedom in this sweeping second volume of Pulitzer winner Atkinson's Revolution Trilogy (after The British Are Coming). He recaps the war's muddled middle years, focusing on three inept British campaigns: Gen. John Burgoyne's 1777 expedition down the Hudson River from Canada, which ended with a humiliating surrender at Saratoga that emboldened the French to ally with America; Gen. William Howe's 1778 defeat of George Washington's Continental Army and occupation of Philadelphia, which the British then fecklessly abandoned; and British efforts to capture Savannah and Charleston in futile hopes of galvanizing Loyalist support. Atkinson also tracks international developments, following Benjamin Franklin's sly diplomacy in Paris and escalating tension between Britain and France. Through vivid battle scenes ("Ghostly, muddy figures illuminated by British muzzle flashes... began climbing... their bayonets pricking the night") and complex portraits of key figures (from Washington—a paragon of honor but also a consummate spin-doctor—to neurotic British commander-in-chief Henry Clinton, who repeatedly begged to be relieved of command), Atkinson distills a larger interpretation: though the British were winning more battles, they were losing the ideological war, partly due to the Patriots' brutal suppression of Loyalists and America's already robust tradition of self-governance, but also because the fight for liberty inspired passionate solidarity abroad. Epic in scale but rich in detail, this captures the drama and world-historical significance of the revolution.
