The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780
by Rick Atkinson
Buy on AmazonI’ve been eagerly waiting years for this book! This is the second volume of Rick Atkinson’s trilogy on the American Revolution. Atkinson makes good use of letters and diaries. You feel like you’re in the middle of a battle, with all the sights, sounds and tragedy. Harrowing tales of hand-to-hand fighting, scalping and desperate evacuations. Fine detail: the waxed mustaches of the Hessian forces, the number of rum barrels distributed to weary and ill-clad troops, the dull thud of cannonballs smacking into ships. The stench of makeshift hospitals, with piles of limbs stacked outside. He carefully lays out how the battles began, and the successes, mistakes and missed opportunities – on both sides.
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"I’ve been eagerly waiting years for this book! This is the second volume of Rick Atkinson’s trilogy on the American Revolution. Atkinson makes good use of letters and diaries. You feel like you’re in the middle of a battle, with all the sights, sounds and tragedy. Harrowing tales of hand-to-hand fighting, scalping and desperate evacuations. Fine detail: the waxed mustaches of the Hessian forces, the number of rum barrels distributed to weary and ill-clad troops, the dull thud of cannonballs smacking into ships. The stench of makeshift hospitals, with piles of limbs stacked outside. He carefully lays out how the battles began, and the successes, mistakes and missed opportunities – on both sides."
NPR Books We Love — 2025 · apps.npr.org
"Author and narrator are both at their best here. Few accounts of the great struggle for independence are so fully and vividly recounted, or so penetrating. Washington is the dominating figure, always admirable, but on a human scale, with his share of shortcomings and pretensions. Lafayette, Arnold, even John Hancock—the dusty names step out of the shadows and down from their pedestals. Golden Voice Gardner’s flawless delivery marks this as one of the year’s hallmark listening experiences. (32.5 hours)"
The Best History & Nonfiction Audiobooks of 2025 · fivebooks.com