rachel's Reviews > Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring

I picked this up because I am in love with Turn: Washington's Spies, the AMC show that you may have guessed is based on this book, and for which author Alexander Rose is also a credited writer.

Given the scant amount of information available about the Culper Ring, I knew the show had to be heavily fictionalized. I did not set out to read Washington's Spies expecting to learn about personal relationships between characters such as you might see in a multi-season TV show. What I did hope for was a narrative, of the Ring's espionage efforts and also the workings of the British secret service (particularly, the recruitment of Benedict Arnold) led by universally beloved stud, Maj. John Andre. I also hoped to see some of the evolution of Gen. Washington's leadership and decision-making.

Alexander Rose can be a great writer of historical narrative: he's witty and deft on the subject of the aforementioned Arnold and Andre collusion, for one, which resulted in Andre's capture and execution and a failed kidnapping attempt of Arnold. I was pleased to see that the humane final impression of Washington's intelligence officer, Benjamin Tallmadge, re: Andre was faithfully portrayed in the show (which, in its fictionalized but compelling relationships, is in large part about how the American Revolution was a civil war between neighbors who happened to have opposing loyalties to US Independence and to Britain, but who were for the most part decent people capable of acting honorably toward one another, even if they had to follow orders).

I also, personally, enjoyed learning more about Robert Rogers -- who wasn't (just???) a campy mercenary with a Scottish accent, but was also the man responsible for the capture of America's most famous spy, Nathan Hale -- and Robert Townsend, the reluctant junior member of the Culper Ring who provided Washington with some of his most valuable information from New York. I was pleased at the aside that Maj. Richard Hewlett, the historical basis of my (fictional) favorite character of the show, also seemed to revere horses. The single fact in this book that gave me the most glee was learning that Capt. John Graves Simcoe really DID write a terrible love poem about a Patriot woman,
though we can assume it probably wasn't mocked publicly.

In terms of criticism, I found the focus to be very scattered, with irrelevant histories about minor characters taking up too much of the page and distracting from the narrative action at key moments. I understand that histories of lesser-documented subjects tend to have some padding, but the information given often did not feel necessary.

I also was less interested in the minute cryptographic details that made up a large portion of the chapters on the Culper Ring, and in the philosophies of various religions towards the American Revolution. Other readers may find more of interest in those subjects. This is ultimately why I can't love the book as much as I'd like, even though I enjoyed sections of it very much.