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Sign up todayThe First Salute
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Learn moreTwo-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, distinguished historian, and bestselling author Barbara W. Tuchman finally turns her sights homeward. Here she analyzes the American Revolution in a brilliantly original way, placing the war in the historical context of the centuries-long conflicts between England and both France and Holland, demonstrating how the aid of both of these nations made the triumph of American independence possible. She sheds new light on the key role played by the contending navies, paints a magnificent portrait of General George Washington, and recounts in riveting detail the decisive campaign of the war at Yorktown. A compellingly written work of history, The First Salute presents a fresh, new view of the events that led from the first foreign salute to American nationhood in 1776 to the last campaign of the Revolution five years later. It brings vividly to life the people and events responsible for the birth of our nation.
Barbara W. Tuchman (1912–1989) was a self-trained historian and author who achieved prominence with The Zimmerman Telegram and international fame with The Guns of August, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1963. She received her BA degree from Radcliffe College in 1933 and worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Pacific Relations in New York and Tokyo from 1934 to 1935. She then began working as a journalist and contributed to publications including The Nation, for which she covered the Spanish Civil War as a foreign correspondent in 1937. Her other books, include The Proud Tower, A Distant Mirror, Practicing History, The March of Folly, The First Salute, and Stilwell and the American Experience in China: 1911-45, also awarded the Pulitzer Prize. In 1980 the National Endowment for the Humanities selected her to deliver the Jefferson Lecture, the US government’s highest honor for intellectual achievement in the humanities.
Wanda McCaddon (a.k.a. Nadia May or Donada Peters) has narrated well over six hundred titles for major audiobook publishers, has earned numerous Earphones Awards, and was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine.
Reviews
“Publication of her tenth book is an opportunity to offer a 21-gun salute. So for wisdom dispensed and pleasure received, commence fire.”
“Entertaining…Tuchman has crammed [her book] with anecdotes and deft characterizations that have distinguished her work for more than thirty years.”
“Barbara Tuchman writes narrative history in the great tradition…A persuasive book, which brings us entertaining pictures, scenes and characters.”
“Brilliant…The First Salute gives a detailed analysis of conditions leading to the American victory.”
“[A] brilliant slice of American Revolutionary history…Expertly weaving political and military history, Tuchman lets you feel how Washington’s victory at Yorktown sent shock waves around the globe.”
“There’s a lot of detail here for the listener to absorb, and while narrator [Wanda McCaddon’s] pace may be a bit quick at times, it keeps the story flowing. Furthermore, [McCaddon’s] diction is superb, and her tone is bell-like in its clarity. Her performance is always expressive, without being overdone, and she renders the odd moment of dry humor well, making this is an accessible history for the general reader.”
“Trenchant observations and an exciting climax…Most libraries will want this Pulitzer Prize–winner’s latest.”
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