The British Are Coming
[by J. Scott Shipman]
The British Are Coming, by Rick Atkinson
A couple of Rick Atkinson’s books (WWII) are in my anti-library, but on the urging of a friend, I purchased Mr. Atkinson’s first volume of a planned trilogy on the American Revolution. About 100 pages in and I find myself trying to make time to finish (it doesn’t help that I’ve embarked on a project that requires even more reading…). Mr. Atkinson may be the best narrative historian since William Manchester.
Preemptively highly recommended.
May 21st, 2019 at 12:05 am
Scott, how would you rate him vis a vis Michael Shaara? I have his Army at Dawn but I haven’t started it yet.
May 21st, 2019 at 2:02 am
Army at Dawn was a good read. Atkinson is indeed a powerful prose writer.
May 21st, 2019 at 2:17 am
He is as good, if not better than Shaara. Like Zen, I have Army at Dawn and another, but never had the time to commit.
.
Atkinson truly has a tacit power with his prose to put the reader in the thick of things—smells and all. He might be better than Manchester, given Manchester’s best similar book was a first personal recollection in Goodbye Darkness.
May 22nd, 2019 at 4:07 pm
Oh heck, the British have come — I’m here!