Rating: 
Summary: Another oustanding book from D H Fischer
Review: There are a number of authors whose books you pick up to read despite the purported subject matter. David Hackett Fischer is one of those authors. Having read Albion's Seed, which I thought was a truly outstanding book, I was not thrilled to see that he had written a book titled Paul Revere's Ride. What could someone have to say that would make this overworked piece of historical minutia worth reading? Wrong! Hiding behind the bland title was another gem about colonial American culture. All this is background to explain why I wasn't surprised by Washington's Crossing. Once again, he has produced an amazingly informative and well-written book book and disguised it with a pablum title.
I thought I knew this part of Revolutionary history very well. However, Washington's Crossing not only brought out details about Trenton and Princeton that I had never known before, it presented a lot of very germane background material that I had never seen before, and most importantly, it explained why these were really significant engagements. They were not minor skirmishes, or as one historian had described them "Washington beating up Howe's outposts". True, the numbers of men involved were small, but then so were the armies, and for that matter so was the population of the colonies. As important as the physical beating the British took in these battles was the psychological damage. These were not minor skirmishes that were blown up as propaganda victories, they inflicted real losses on the British and showed that under the right circumstances, the Americans could stand up to both the Hessians and the British. As Fischer shows, the immediate outcome of the battles was to force the British to withdraw inside a defended perimeter, and to encourage the guerilla war fought by the New Jersey militia, which Fisher titles the "Forage war".
When reading the final chapters of this book, I could not help drawing connections with the Vietnam War. Although the Tet offensive was a lost battle, it brought up the idea that winning the war might be too costly to support. Similar ideas must have gone through the British mind after Trenton and Princeton, with the difference that Washington actually won those battles. To his credit, Fischer does not draw the parallels, or even mention the Vietnam War. He limits himself to the facts of the Revolution, and leaves the speculation entirely to the reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This book brings home the bravery and the sacrifices of a nation besieged by would-be conquerors. It made me appreciate George Washington - not as a stiff cardboard figure, but as a man of daring and courage in the face of almost certain defeat. Washington's Crossing is an outstanding contribution to our nation's understanding of itself.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: This book is a great read even for those of us who don't read history books.
Rating: 
Summary: Best American Revolutionary War Military History to Date
Review: This book is military history at its best. It does for the American Revolution what Stephen Sears' "Landscape Turned Red" did for Civil War writing. The author is a good story teller and the book has a nice flow to it. I found it hard to put this book down. The author does a fascinating job of giving the background of all the armies involved. It provides dimension and humanity to the "Redcoats", including the mercenary Hessians. This is a valuable treatment as Americans tend to be very partisan about the Revolutionary War. At the same time it would be hard to read this book without coming away with a higher opinion of the patriots who risked their lifes and/or fortunes to gain our independence. I was intrigued by the impact of George Washington as a leader. He truly had greatness. As military history it is unsurpassed. It has excellent maps, thorough research, and is fair and impartial. It is also thought provoking. The author's thesis is that this campaign was the turning point in the war. His willingness to express his opinion is a strength. He puts forward a good case and this work will undoubtedly stir debate about the war. That is a strength. The reason that I could not give it 5 stars was the unnecessary last chapter where the author makes too many generalizations about how America's character has evolved from those dark days. It sounds like a preacher rather than a historian. Those conclusions were not particularly relevant nor supported. Still this would make a short list of the great books on the American Revolution.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Put - An Excellent Well Written Book and Entertaining
Review: This is a beautifully crafted and well written book with lots of pictures, maps, and drawings showing battle tactics. There is a lot of detail about the people involved and all in all an impressive and easy to read book.
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.
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 pages total) that covers the story in much detail in 420 pages and then has a lengthy reference section of 144 pages at the back of the book. The war went on for almost seven years so this book is on one short 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 and not just for war historians. This should be a great popular read.
Rating:
Summary: outstanding history, human & grand
Review: This is a wonderful book of history. It is well-written, a page-turner, it is well-documented, it tells an old story in a completely new way, it draws conclusions from the history that can help us think about what is happening in the world today. The thing I liked best about the book was its focus on the human story of the soldiers & the officers, among the colonial forces, the Hessians & the British. Using their diaries, letters home, memoirs, newspaper accounts & suchlike. I felt like I knew those people in a way that I have never felt with a book about the American revolution (the closest I've gotten in the past was the series of novels about the period by Kenneth Roberts).Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Proves once again the greatness of Washington
Review: This is a wonderful book. On the one hand, it's the story--told from the strategic level--of a critical year in America's history (late 1776 to mid-1777). On the other hand, it's a gripping story of the battles, the participants, and what it all looked like from the viewpoint of the common soldier. And if I had a third hand, it is yet another testimonial to the greatness of George Washington, both as a man and military leader. The story begins with a retelling of the horrible period in 1776, when Washington's army was outfought and outgeneraled in New York and chased to Pennsylvania. Having been proven fallable, Washington rethought his strategy and within a few weeks demonstrated great leadership in crossing the Delaware and defeating the enemy in Trenton, then a week later holding the British off in Trenton, then beating them in Princeton. Fischer's retelling of the guerilla-style war that ensued in New Jersey after the battle of Princeton was completely new to me. Fischer is a master of seamlessly moving the narrative from the broad strategic level (the maps are excellent) to the tactical level, and then to the level of the individual soldier. His synthesis of diaries and other first-hand accounts from participants from both sides of the conflict gives the reader the feeling of really being there. I've read a fair amount on the Revolutionary War but found that I had a greater feel for the travails and thoughts of the individual soldiers from this book than in anything I've read before. I particularly liked the last chapter, where Fischer summarizes the big and small lessons we can learn from the events of that critical year. I could not agree more with one of his concluding points--that recent years have seen historians focus on finding dark underbellies in American history (often where one did not exist): "Too many writers have told us we are captives of our darker selves and helpless victims of history. It isn't so, and never was." Amen to that. Fischer doesn't varnish the truth nor does he try to convince the reader that the Americans were always lily white. But there is no question who the good guys were in his retelling, and he backs up his conclusions with facts. This is the story of one of the great moments in our nation's history, when the future truly was in the balance. The decisions of George Washington really mattered then and so did his leadership. The response of the other leaders and soldiers really mattered, and they responded admirably. It's a time we can all be proud of. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful, readable account
Review: This is sure to become one of the best accounts on Washingtons earlier years in command of the continental army. On Christmas day at 8am the rag tag American Army charged into Trenton and dispersed a British force made up mostly of Hessians. The battle has come to be known as a turning point, not due its military significance, but because of its place in restoring American Moral. This book analyzes the daring tactics of Washington and his army that stuck together in the worst of conditions at Valley Forge. This wonderful book details the retreat from New York and the setbacks of 1776 and culminates in a minute by minute account of the Crossing and the Battle. A wonderful read, American history buffs and Revolutionary war fans will both enjoy this highly readable book. Seth J. Frantzman
Rating:
Summary: Washington's Crossing is a must for history buffs!
Review: Three colonies were already in the hands of the British during the early days of the American Revolutionary War. Rhode Island,
New York and New Jersey were filled with British regulars under the command of General Howe. General Washington the proud, aloof and ambitious scion of old Virginia commanded a band of New England sailors and merchants from the norteast. They were forced to face the might of the greatest army in the world. Over
2/3 of the British regular army was in North America. These troops were veterans, well trained and brutal in their bellicose skills to destroy an opponent. The British troops also had the assistance of the excellent Hessian troops.
But...guess what? The fledgling American army under the great General Washington defeated them through skill in combat, strategy and the use of all types of warfare from urban street to street battle to guerilla tactics and double envelopment maneuvering. Washington also made use of intelligence through spying and was an awe inspiring leader able to elicit the support of independent minded Americans.
Hackett-Fischer is a great historian who tells the exciting story of the two battles of Trenton and the American victory over the British at Princeton in the bleak winter of 1776-1777
with detail,colorful details and an array of well drawn battle maps, period illustrations and portrait sketches of the leading participants in the struggle for a new nation.
The book reads like a novel but is based solidly on years of resarch. I came to appreciate Washington and American democracy even more in this timing of testing in Iraq. May the American spirit be revived as we look back to the dark days of the war thatr made us a nation with a new resolve to defend democracy and
eschew brutality and mistreatment of the enemy., Washington's army was led by a great man who never gave up even when the snows fell, the army rosters were populated by starving troops and hope for foreign assistance to defeat the British was far off on the horizon of a new tomorrow.
Hackett-Fishers previous classics "Albion's Seed" and "Paul
Revere's Ride" are excellent insights into colonial America and the true birth of our nation. Anyone who considers our history to be boring should pour into the fascinating pages given us by this master of the art of history who is also a born storyteller.
A great book!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Narrative but Overly-Broad Conclusions
Review: Until now, Richard M. Ketchum's The Winter Soldiers written in 1973, was probably one of the best accounts available of the dramatic campaign of Trenton and Princeton in 1776-1777. However, Brandeis University Professor David Hackett Fischer's Washington's Crossing is clearly superior in the quality of its narrative and maps, as well as depth of supporting research. Fischer's Washington's Crossing is in fact, the best campaign narrative now available on the subject. Fischer's work is particularly valuable for the many new details he brings to this telling, such as the role of the Pennsylvania Navy on the Delaware River, the key role of American artillery in the campaign and the "Forage War" fought in New Jersey in the first three months of 1777. However, Fischer attempts to use this campaign to present general theories about the American Revolution that are flimsy at best, as well as a attempt to challenge various historiographical versions of the campaign. Washington's Crossing consists of nineteen chapters that begin with the New York Campaign and end with the "Forage War" in 1777. Fischer also provides nineteen excellent maps that effectively support the narrative, except for parts of the New York campaign. Equally interesting are the author's 24 appendices, which range from orders of battle for New York, Trenton and Princeton, to casualty records, weather records on the Delaware River and notes on river fords. Taken together, the author's documentation is superb. As for the campaign narrative, Fischer writes well and is able to effectively paint the "dark period" that made these ten days so pivotal for American history. Yet while Fischer conclusively proves that the Hessians were not caught napping or drunk at Trenton, his assertion that they put up stiffer resistance than most accounts suggest lacks analysis. Despite two Hessian counterattacks with artillery support, Colonel Rall's 1,000 troops and six cannon were unable to kill a single American soldier in about one hour of close-quarter combat; this was a pretty pathetic effort. While Fischer paints the Hessian troops as exhausted after weeks of harassment, they were certainly better rested than the American troops who had just made a river crossing and forced march in severe weather. Fischer's rationale for including or excluding information is not always compelling; for example, he banishes John Honeyman - supposedly one of Washington's spies in New Jersey - to the footnotes. Fischer acknowledges that many other historians have included Honeyman as an important figure in the events at Trenton, but he regards the evidence as flimsy and simply discounts it, even as he admits that there is little hard data available on Washington's spy system. However, on even flimsier anecdotal evidence, Fischer suggests that an "unknown American woman" - and he suggests Betsy Ross - helped to delay Hessians at Mount Holly by entertaining the brigade commander. Fischer also includes an unsubstantiated Hessian account that they were bombarded from the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware by seven American batteries during Washington's attack on Trenton, despite the lack of any American sources on this incident. Why are these batteries not listed in the order of battle? Furthermore, how could American cannon engage targets across a 700-meter wide river when Fischer admits that visibility was down to perhaps 500 meters due to the snowstorm? The author also annoyingly tries to score political correctness points by sprinkling cameo appearances by blacks and women in the campaign narrative, but the significance (if any) of their actions often appears strained. For example, Fischer notes the close bond that George Washington had with his slave, William Lee, but how is this significant to the Trenton campaign? The author also notes that a number of slave revolts broke out in New Jersey in the winter of 1776, with groups such as the "Black Pioneers" active, but so what? Women such as Margaret Morris appear frequently in the text because she kept a diary, but would the campaign narrative suffer if she had been omitted? Fischer also attempts to draw dangerous general conclusions from a ten-day campaign. First, he asserts that the "British and German forces remained rigid and hierarchical, Americans evolved an open and flexible system that was fundamental to their success," for which he presents the American victories at Trenton and Princeton as proof. Yet why, when a British brigade surprised and routed a good quality American brigade under Anthony Wayne at Paoli nine months later, did this not indicate the opposite? Indeed, British forces were able to outmaneuver Washington himself at Germantown, and Gates at Camden, so the idea that the Trenton campaign gave American forces an intrinsic tactical edge is silly. Fischer's second broad assertion is that Americans developed a higher ethical standard in warfare that was demonstrated by Washington's humane treatment of German and British prisoners in the Trenton campaign. However, the treatment of the much larger number of Anglo-German prisoners after Saratoga was much less humane and it would be premature to assert that a "policy of humanity" was in effect when in fact, Trenton represented the first large haul of enemy prisoners. While Washington's victories at Trenton and Princeton were "pivotal moments in American history" as Fischer concludes these victories were not decisive militarily or politically. In fact, the decisive victory would come ten months later at Saratoga. Fischer's assessment that British commanders came to see the war as lost after Trenton is specious; Howe easily brushed aside Washington's army in 1777 and seized Philadelphia. (...). Indeed, the American financial situation seriously deteriorated as the war dragged on and as late as 1780 - over three years after Trenton - the British were still able to inflict crushing defeats on the Americans at Charleston and Camden.
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