Potus Geeks Book Review: Washington's Spies by Alexander Rose
Those who read Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring by Alexander Rose, expecting the story to marry up with the one told on the AMC television series, will be disappointed. While the television series works a lot of fiction into its story for dramatic effect, author Alexander Rose presents a more accurate story of the real Culper Spy Ring that operated during the American Revolution. However the real Benjamin Tallmadge, Abraham Woodhull and Caleb Brewster are each very interesting and colorful characters in their own right even though they have many dissimilarities with their fictionalized counterparts. The history presented by Rose is even better than its fictionalized small screen version.
Rose writes a well researched and well sourced account of how George Washington utilized a network of covert espionage to his army's advantage during the Revolutionary war. He describes what contemporary conditions were like, the Whig vs. Tory dynamic in colonial America, the obstacles involved in getting a message from an operative to the General, what type of information was useful, the use of 18th century spy tactics such as invisible ink, the economics of espionage, the hazards of wartime travel, kidnappings and prisoner exchanges and generally the fascinating details of how loyalists and patriots, American and British soldiers, all managed to inhabit the New York area in such close proximity, while at war.
For me, the best part of the book was learning about the personalities of many of the principal actors in this drama: the patriotic and the greedy, the brave and the timid, the honest and the slimy, the innovative and the unimaginative, the noble and the vile. Rose's descriptions of Washington, Tallmadge, Woodhull, Brewster, Major John Andre, Robert Townsend, Benedict Arnold, John Simcoe, Anna Strong, Edward Hewlitt and Richard Rogers and others involved in the Revolutionary spy game, were fascinating, especially for how different each person was in reality, compared to his or her fictionalized television portrayal.
Parts of this book can be tedious and pedantic. For example, Rose's description of the code systems used was something that I found dry and difficult to follow. Yet it is a remarkable testament to the depth of the author's research and his ability to understand and explain a complicated subject. One of the other difficulties is that Rose does not tell the story of Washington's spies in a linear or chronological manner and at times this can present some difficulties in following the story. These are minor criticisms of an otherwise excellent account of a fascinating story.
For the reader with an interest in the American Revolution at a level above a mere recounting of what battles were fought and who won, this is a superb storehouse of interesting information. Alexander Rose presents and preserves a history of Revolutionary War espionage while humanizing the story by allowing us to get to know the principal cast. He reminds us that these secret agents were not suave and cool James Bond types, but were men and women possessed of assorted strengths and weaknesses, coping as best they could under trying circumstances. In the process he has produced a very good book.
Rose writes a well researched and well sourced account of how George Washington utilized a network of covert espionage to his army's advantage during the Revolutionary war. He describes what contemporary conditions were like, the Whig vs. Tory dynamic in colonial America, the obstacles involved in getting a message from an operative to the General, what type of information was useful, the use of 18th century spy tactics such as invisible ink, the economics of espionage, the hazards of wartime travel, kidnappings and prisoner exchanges and generally the fascinating details of how loyalists and patriots, American and British soldiers, all managed to inhabit the New York area in such close proximity, while at war.
For me, the best part of the book was learning about the personalities of many of the principal actors in this drama: the patriotic and the greedy, the brave and the timid, the honest and the slimy, the innovative and the unimaginative, the noble and the vile. Rose's descriptions of Washington, Tallmadge, Woodhull, Brewster, Major John Andre, Robert Townsend, Benedict Arnold, John Simcoe, Anna Strong, Edward Hewlitt and Richard Rogers and others involved in the Revolutionary spy game, were fascinating, especially for how different each person was in reality, compared to his or her fictionalized television portrayal.
Parts of this book can be tedious and pedantic. For example, Rose's description of the code systems used was something that I found dry and difficult to follow. Yet it is a remarkable testament to the depth of the author's research and his ability to understand and explain a complicated subject. One of the other difficulties is that Rose does not tell the story of Washington's spies in a linear or chronological manner and at times this can present some difficulties in following the story. These are minor criticisms of an otherwise excellent account of a fascinating story.
For the reader with an interest in the American Revolution at a level above a mere recounting of what battles were fought and who won, this is a superb storehouse of interesting information. Alexander Rose presents and preserves a history of Revolutionary War espionage while humanizing the story by allowing us to get to know the principal cast. He reminds us that these secret agents were not suave and cool James Bond types, but were men and women possessed of assorted strengths and weaknesses, coping as best they could under trying circumstances. In the process he has produced a very good book.