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Publishers WeeklySynopsis
In To Try Men's Souls, New York Times bestselling authors Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen cast a new light on the year 1776 and the man who would become the father of our nation, George Washington. Valley Forge picks up the narrative a year after Washington's triumphant surprise attack on Trenton, and much has changed since then.
It's the winter of 1777, and Washington's battered, demoralized army retreats from Philadelphia. Arriving at Valley Forge, they discover that their repeated requests for a stockpile of food, winter clothing, and building tools have been ignored by Congress. With no other options available, the men settle down for a season of agony. For weeks the dwindling army freezes under tents in the bitter cold. Food runs out. Disease festers. The men are on the point of collapse, while in Philadelphia the British, joined by Allen van Dorn, the Loyalist brother of the dead patriot, Jonathan van Dorn, live in luxury.
In spite of the suffering and deceit, Washington endures all, joined at last by a volunteer from Germany, Baron Friederich von Steuben. With precious few supplies and even less time, von Steuben begins the hard task of recasting the army as a professional fighting force capable of facing the British head-on—something it has never accomplished before—and in the process he changing the course of history.
Valley Forge is a compelling, meticulously researched tour-de-force novel about endurance, survival, transformation, and rebirth. It chronicles the unique crucible of time and place where Washington and his Continental Army, against all odds, were forged into a fighting force that would win a revolution and found the United States of America.
About Newt Gingrich
See more books from this AuthorA you-are-there account of George Washington's—and Baron von Steuben's—stalwart efforts to whip the beaten-down Continental Army into the crack fighting force that defeated the British...An informative if starchy novel about a crucial turning point in American history.
Read Full Review of Valley Forge: George Washingt... | See more reviews from KirkusGingrich and Forstchen recreate the sights and smells of the Continental Army's hand-to-mouth camp life and the battlefield action around Valley Forge with a brisk panache that should bode well for future entries.
Read Full Review of Valley Forge: George Washingt... | See more reviews from Publishers WeeklyThis "Contract With America" has so many suspect clauses and contingencies in its fine print that my best advice is: Reader, beware.
Read Full Review of Valley Forge: George Washingt...An aggregated and normalized score based on 261 user ratings from iDreamBooks & iTunes