The Fate of the Day

“Rick Atkinson takes his place among the greatest of all historians. This superb second volume in his Revolution Trilogy is that rare narrative that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Familiar characters become dimensional and complicated, new ones burst to life vividly, and the battles and struggles that created our country now have clarity and meaning.”—Ken Burns

“This is great history… . We witness Washington mature as a commander; we come to understand why Arnold sells his allegiance; and we recognize King George’s quandary as his generals repeatedly fail to draw this ruinously expensive conflict to an end … . There is no better writer of narrative history than the Pulitzer Prize-winning Atkinson.”—The New York Times

“Mr. Atkinson sustains dramatic tension in a detailed, comprehensive account of the Revolution’s pivotal middle years… . He deftly sketches personalities and incidents while stressing the uncertainty all those involved felt about the outcome.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Atkinson writes with tremendous verve and detail. The result is a book that infuses the events… of the war with striking vibrancy, essentially bringing the conflict to life again… . Regular readers of history will have already heard of many of the people Atkinson describes—but after finishing this book, they might feel like they have met them.”—The Washington Post

“Thoroughly researched and richly illustrated, [The Fate of the Day] is popular history at its very best, leading with narrative and rich detail while making often compelling but more analytical insights in passing… . Much more than a simple retelling of battles, the book includes an immense amount about the craft of war, its relationship to and impact on politics and society, and the role of grand strategy in fixing the course of a conflict. It also raises a profound question about the role of principle in statecraft.”—Claremont Review of Books

“[Atkinson] has the journalist’s stylistic flair but a stupendous appetite for research that would put many a gray-haired Ph.D. to shame… . The result, in The Fate of the Day, is a massive, and massively enjoyable, excursion into the embattled history of the American republic, its imperial British enemy, and its opportunistic ally, France.”—The Washington Free Beacon

“[Atkinson] is vivifying the Revolutionary War in his mesmerizing histories The British Are Coming and The Fate of the Day. The latter, the second book in a planned trilogy … is being devoured by lawmakers on Capitol Hill.”—The New York Times

“The Fate of the Day contains those intimate details of conflicts that provide the reader a keen sense of the chaos and terror with which eighteenth-century battles were conducted… . [A] compelling, clear narrative, this volume is worth reading with the same care as it was written.”—Journal of the American Revolution

“[A] riveting narrative… . Meticulously researched and marvelously told… . The Fate of The Day is a triumph of narrative history and cements Atkinson’s place among America’s finest popular historians.”—ARMY Magazine

“As ever with Atkinson, an exemplary work of narrative history.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Rick Atkinson is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of eight narrative histories about five American wars, including The Long Gray Line, the Liberation Trilogy (An Army at Dawn, The Day of Battle, and The Guns at Last Light), and The British Are Coming, the first volume of the Revolution Trilogy. He has won numerous awards, including Pulitzer Prizes for history and journalism.

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