Rick Atkinson, author of "The British Are Coming", said at the
Association of the United States Army and Army Historical Foundation's
Lemnitzer Lecture as polarized as the country seems now "we have overcome
bigger perils before."
At the Arlington, Virginia event, he reminded the attendees as
flawed as the Founding Fathers were "we cannot let that heritage be taken
away" in what they accomplished in the Revolution and the establishment of
a democratic republic that has survived
for more than 230 years.
To underline that point, Atkinson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning
author, quoted Nathaniel Greene in a letter to his wife following the debacle
at Fort Washington near the northern founded tip of Manhattan where more than
2,800 American soldiers were captured and the Continental Army was forced to
escape into New Jersey: "Be of good courage."
Like his previous work on the United States Army in the Europe
during World War II, "The British Are Coming" is projected to be a trilogy.
For more, here is a podcast interview with Atkinson before his
lecture.
- John Grady
