I never truly understood how incredible a task General Washington had before him until I read David McCullough's "1776". Not that I ever thought The Revolution was a cakewalk, but when I read just one year's worth of American History in detail I came away with an understanding of just how blessed our country was to have this man when we did.
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."...........Thomas Paine
I started out with a small biography of The General and went on to read about 15 more. The more I learned about him, the more I loved and respected the man. It took me a few years of reading to finally feel that I "knew" the man, and what I knew made me think that he was one of the greatest men who ever lived.
As it's said,you can judge a man by his enemies, but he had few; and the worst that the revisionist historians could ever muster about The General was that 1) he was a bit of a social climber and 2) he strove to acquire land. If that's the worst that they could get on him...