The Talent, Including The Talent For History

I Want People To See That All-important Time In A Different Way-in The Way It Was. For Of A Number Of Reasons, Including The Absence Of Photographs, We Tend To See The Men And Women Of The Revolution As Not Quite Real. And We Have Far Too Little Sense Of What They Suffered.

It Was A Day And Age That Saw No Reason Why One Could Not Learn Whatever Was Required - Learn Vitally Anything - By The Close Study Of Books.

Washington Was A Man Of Exceptional, Almost Excessive Self-command, Rarely Permitting Himself Any Show Of Discouragement Or Despair.

Housetops Were Covered With 'gazers'; All Wharves That Offered A View Were Jammed With People ... As British Officers Happily Reminded One Another, It Was The Largest Fleet Ever Seen In American Waters. In Fact It Was The Largest Expeditionary Force Of The 18th Century, The Largest, Most Powerful Force Ever Sent Forth By Britain Or Any Other Nation.

To Hold The Reader's Attention, You Have To Bring The Person Who's Reading The Book Inside The Experience Of The Time: What Was It Like To Have Been Alive Then? What Were These People Like As Human Beings?