Washington's Crossing (Pivotal Moments in American History) [Hardcover]

The author does spend a good deal of time writing about what the common soldiers of both armies were suffering through but he does it in such a way that it only adds flavor to the bigger story he is telling. One gets a real feel for the miseries of the night marches through mud, ice, snow and rain with inadequate shoes and clothing. As the story unfolds one has to wonder how the men of either army managed to survive the weather, let alone combat. The author also tells of the infamous treatment suffered by the civilian population of New Jersey at the hands of British and German troops. This behavior turned a fairly docile population into angry patriots and this contributed mightily to the success of later American efforts.

Throughout most of this book Professor Fischer is very kind to George Washington and in the case of the disaster at New York perhaps too kind. On the whole though the author offers what seems to be a very credible picture of Washington the general and the trials he faced. In the modern age of instant communications it is hard to imagine that in 1776 Americans from different states had little in common except language and sometimes not even that. Washington faced a difficult task in fusing this disjointed group into an American Army but he did it and Fischer explains how. The author also clearly shows how Washington and his lieutenants learned from their mistakes and grew into their roles. The lessons learned in this campaign by Nathaniel Greene would become very important as the war wore on. It would also turn out to be very important that Lord Cornwallis failed to learn much at all from his Jersey experiences.

Most important of all however is that the American cause that was about to collapse in mid December 1776 was on the offensive by the following spring. The thesis of this book is that the campaigns that started with "Washington's Crossing" were a turning point in American history and the author makes a very compelling argument for his thesis. The campaigns of the winter of 1776-77 are not often given the credit they deserve in deciding the outcome of the American Revolution, an error I have been guilty of myself. Reading this extremely informative, well-written and thoroughly researched book has made a believer of me and hopefully it will influence generations of historians yet to come.

The author David Fischer is a highly regarded American historian and a well known author with a number of other popular books published. The present book is part of a series "Pivotal Moments in American History", and the present book concentrates on the important and perhaps pivotal winter of 1776 when after The Declaration of Independence the American forces suffered a series of military defeats in three colonies and they faced a possible dissolution of the army under Washington. The actions described in the book were important in maintaing the momentum of the revolution that continued for another six years.

I have just finished reading His Excellency George Washington by Joseph Ellis and I would - in addition to the present book - highly recommend that book. It gives a broad 50 year view of the build up to the revolution starting from approximately 1752 and continuing to around 1800. Ellis is a Pulitzer Prize winner and it is superbly written, simply a beautiful book. In any case I was interested in reading more about the struggles.

The author has put together a fine book here almost 600 pages long (564) that covers the story in much detail in 420 pages and then has a lengthy reference section at the back of the book. The war went on for almost seven years so this book is on one brief but important moment in that war - December 1776.

The book concentrates on the New York and the New Jersey actions around and during December 1776 time frame, but mostly on New Jersey. In the book the author provides a lot of background information on the citizens, the troops, how the armies functioned, tactics, battles, etc and their military leaders.

As a bonus, in addition to all the reference materials at the back, are the many pictures, paintings, and maps including some that show troop movements in different battles. These photos and other pictures are in black and white. These graphics and photographs fill in many details and give the book some life. All in all a beautiful job by the author.

Highly recommend.