Product Description

Based on remarkable new research, acclaimed historian Alexander Rose brings to life the true story of the spy ring that helped America win the Revolutionary War. For the first time, Rose takes us beyond the battlefront and deep into the shadowy underworld of double agents and triple crosses, covert operations and code breaking, and unmasks the courageous, flawed men who inhabited this wilderness of mirrors—including the spymaster at the heart of it all.

In the summer of 1778, with the war poised to turn in his favor, General George Washington desperately needed to know where the British would strike next. To that end, he unleashed his secret weapon: an unlikely ring of spies in New York charged with discovering the enemy’s battle plans and military strategy.

Washington’s small band included a young Quaker torn between political principle and family loyalty, a swashbuckling sailor addicted to the perils of espionage, a hard-drinking barkeep, a Yale-educated cavalryman and friend of the doomed Nathan Hale, and a peaceful, sickly farmer who begged Washington to let him retire but who always came through in the end. Personally guiding these imperfect everyday heroes was Washington himself. In an era when officers were gentlemen, and gentlemen didn’t spy, he possessed an extraordinary talent for deception—and proved an adept spymaster.

The men he mentored were dubbed the Culper Ring. The British secret service tried to hunt them down, but they escaped by the closest of shaves thanks to their ciphers, dead drops, and invisible ink. Rose’s thrilling narrative tells the unknown story of the Revolution–the murderous intelligence war, gunrunning and kidnapping, defectors and executioners—that has never appeared in the history books. But Washington’s Spies is also a spirited, touching account of friendship and trust, fear and betrayal, amid the dark and silent world of the spy.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #187810 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-01
• Released on: 2007-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The unfamiliar terrain of Britain's American colonies made it vital for both sides to gain knowledge of enemy troop movements during the Revolutionary War. But acquiring that information called for a level of espionage that neither side was prepared for, requiring both to make up many of their operational procedures as they went along. Rose (Kings in the North) focuses on a small band of Americans, longtime friends who created an intelligence network known as the Culper Ring to funnel information to George Washington about the British troops in and around New York City. The author quotes extensively from their correspondence, showing how contentious the relationship between the general and his spies could get, especially when Washington thought they were underperforming. Rose also delves into technical aspects of the Culpers' spycraft, like their attempts at cryptography and invisible ink. Although his story is compelling in its descriptions of occupied New York, where patriots and loyalists lived together in an uneasy balance, it is diffused somewhat by lengthy digressions into the more well-known spy tales of Nathan Hale and Benedict Arnold. Be sure to follow along with the footnotes, too—Rose works in several more anecdotes among his documentation. (May 2)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"Fascinating…. tells how the work of the spies proved to be the tipping point in the summer of 1778, helping Washington begin breaking the stalemate with the British…. [and] brings to light their crucial help in winning American independence."—Dallas Morning News

"Compelling."—Publishers Weekly

"After working on Washington, I knew there was a story to tell about his reliance on spies during the Revolutionary War. But I believed the story could never be told because the evidence did not exist. Well, I was wrong, and Alexander Rose tells this important story with style and wit."—Joseph Ellis, author of His Excellency: George Washington

"Making brilliant use of documentary sources, Rose gives us intrigue, crossed signals, derring-do, and a priceless slice of 18th century life…Rose unfolds the story of a Long Island-based spy ring of idealists and misfits who kept George Washington informed of what was going on in enemy-occupied New York." —Richard Brookhiser, author of Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington

"Rose has used some valuable new historical sources to tell this interesting story…. Excellent."—Deseret Morning News.


From the Hardcover edition.

Review
"Fascinating…. tells how the work of the spies proved to be the tipping point in the summer of 1778, helping Washington begin breaking the stalemate with the British…. [and] brings to light their crucial help in winning American independence."—Dallas Morning News

"Compelling."—Publishers Weekly

"After working on Washington, I knew there was a story to tell about his reliance on spies during the Revolutionary War. But I believed the story could never be told because the evidence did not exist. Well, I was wrong, and Alexander Rose tells this important story with style and wit."—Joseph Ellis, author of His Excellency: George Washington

"Making brilliant use of documentary sources, Rose gives us intrigue, crossed signals, derring-do, and a priceless slice of 18th century life…Rose unfolds the story of a Long Island-based spy ring of idealists and misfits who kept George Washington informed of what was going on in enemy-occupied New York." —Richard Brookhiser, author of Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington

"Rose has used some valuable new historical sources to tell this interesting story…. Excellent."—Deseret Morning News.


From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews

From a Collector and Author
As the title above indicates, I'm a collector of books set in Revolutionary America as well as the author of a frontier novel. I usually take my time reading a book because I like to savor it as I read. However, much to my wifes surprise, I finished the book in only a few days. I enjoyed the book so much that I wanted to keep on reading when I usually would have paused. The book reads like a novel and Mr. Rose has a unique talent for being able to transport the reader to the time of the revolution and put an entire conflict into perspective. He did a terrific job of capturing the pace of life, which can be a difficult thing to do with the written word. I have literally read over a thousand books on the revolution, and this book is in my top 5. Best of all the book can be trusted to be true to history and is not an attempt at revisionism. You won't go wrong by ordering this book.

A great read!
Rose obviously did an incredible amount of work on this book. I finished it last night. All I can say is Wow, the pages just flew by.. I have whole bookshelves loaded down with volumes on the Revolution, so it's not often I'm surprised by anything I read about it but I was this time! I recommend Washington's Spies to anyone with even a passing interest in military history, George Washingto, espionage, or just great history writing.

An Extraordinary Drama
The Culper Ring was a secret spy network run by General George Washington during the War of Independence which operated in New York City. It had five members: Abragham Woodhull, Robert Townsend, Caleb Brewster, Austin Roe and Benjamin Tallmadge (who was Nathan Hale's best friend at Yale University). Together they (as Rose says) "spied the daylights out of the British." The author does more than tell their story, but goes deeper and examines the whole "secret world" of the Revolution, the one you dn't read about in the history books. Including smuggling, gun-running, kidnapping, piracy, and even the British attempt to destroy the Continental dollar by flooding us with counterfeits. I wish I had this back in college. A fascinating eye-opener and wonderfully written.