George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution Paperback – October 18, 2016 by Brian Kilmeade and, Don Yaeger (Sentinel / Penguin Audio)

The minute details, which I admit were very important to the actual participants, where life or death weighed in the balance of the spy life, for me, kept my reading like having to push myself to and through the next section or page or chapter. The story line, again "for me" was a bit hard for me to keep interested in, but admit the actual historical reality was new to me and most impressive; raising my admiration for our original Founders who put their lives and money and time into achieving our Independence. I came away with a new level of how precious are the Liberties and Freedoms "We the People" of today, enjoy and often find so easy to criticize and rebuke.When George Washington beat a hasty retreat from New York City in August 1776, many thought the American Revolution might soon be over. Instead, Washington rallied—thanks in large part to a little-known, top-secret group called the Culper Spy Ring. He realized that he couldn’t defeat the British with military might, so he recruited a sophisticated and deeply secretive intelligence network to infiltrate New York.

Drawing on extensive research, Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger have offered fascinating portraits of these spies: a reserved Quaker merchant, a tavern keeper, a brash young longshoreman, a curmudgeonly Long Island bachelor, a coffeehouse owner, and a mysterious woman. Long unrecognized, the secret six are finally receiving their due among the pantheon of American heroes.The most interesting thing to me is that the information gathered by these civilian volunteers and given to the military, played a key role in the war for the independence of Britain's American colonies. If it weren't for these people the struggle would most likely have gone on much longer, and certainly would have resulted in more patriots' deaths. It's even possible that without them, the Americans might not have won the Revolutionary War. Nevertheless, I was never taught any of this in my history classes when I was a kid.

This is basically the written version of the television series "TURN: Washington's Spies" by the A & E Network, but without the suspense and the drama. However, I don't mean to imply that the TV series and this book are related in any way, because they are not, except the subject of both is the same thing. I bought it because of my interest in military history, my like for the TV series, and because Washington's spy master, who has the same last name as I do, was a cousin of one of my ancestors. Ironically, very little is mentioned of him in this book.