American Revolution history book – “Valley Forge” (Simon & Schuster, 2018) – Tom Clavin interview

Tom Clavin is a prolific history writer who’s been on the New York Times Bestsllers list. We talk about his latest book co-authored with Bob Drury, Valley Forge.

0:41 – Tom talks about how he got into co-authoring a book on Valley Forge during the American Revolution.

3:05 – Tom talks about how the book is laid out and describes each of the three parts.

7:51 – Tom talks about the ways Washington was able to keep his troops at Valley Forge.

10:44 – Tom talks about Lafayette and Von Steuben.

14:14 – Tom talks about Washington’s feelings of fatherliness to the men in his army and to the country.

17:02 – Tom talks about the British plans and the effects of winter on campaigning.

19:58 – Tom talks about Washington’s plans for the time at Valley Forge and after. He also describes Von Steuben and what he did for the army.

24:19 – Tom talks about how Washignton managed an army made up of people from all over the country and also of other nationalities. There were also hundreds of black troops in the army.

29:00 – Tom talks about what they used to research the book.

31:55 – Tom talks about visiting the site of Valley Forge.

34:55 – Tom tells the sad story of John Lawrence, one of Washington’s favorites.

38:15 – The Americans deployed an attack submarine during Valley Forge. As wild as that sounds, Tom explains.

39:40 – Tom talks about the effort to usurp Washington.

43:54 – Tom talks about how camp followers were taken care of.

45:29 – Tom talks about the huge population of people at Valley Forge at the time.

47:04 – Tom talks about Washington’s experience in managing this large number of people.

53:45 – He has a website tomclavin.com

Links of interest

http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Valley-Forge/Bob-Drury/9781501152719

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Guests: Tom Clavin

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book. George Washington, Lafayette, Von Steuben, Alexander Hamilton, Howe, British, Continental Army, Continental Congress, Franklin, American Revolution