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    The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War
    The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War
    The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War
    Audiobook13 hours

    The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War

    Written by Bernard Cornwell

    Narrated by Robin Bowerman

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    “The most prolific and successful historical novelist in the world today.” —Wall Street Journal

    “Readers who haven’t discovered Bernard Cornwell don’t know what they are missing.” —New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn

    From the New York Times bestselling author of Agincourt, the Saxon Tales, and the beloved Richard Sharpe series, Bernard Cornwell’s The Fort plunges prow-first into the largest naval clash of the Revolutionary War. Fans of the Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles and The Burning Land will thrill to Cornwell’s triumphant return to American historical fiction in this gripping story of courage, strength and patriotism.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateSep 28, 2010
    ISBN9780062019172
    Author

    Bernard Cornwell

    Bernard Cornwell was born in London, raised in Essex and worked for the BBC for eleven years before meeting Judy, his American wife. Denied an American work permit he wrote a novel instead and has been writing ever since. He and Judy divide their time between Cape Cod and Charleston, South Carolina.

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    Reviews for The Fort

    3.5/5

    31 ratings15 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      what to say about this book... alot really. it was written very well and i loved how he showed what was history and how to tell what was character as you read. it has alot of information in there but by the time i was done some illusions were shattered. for example i now have to say that if rest of our military was like these then it is only because of divine intervention that we became the united states. that solomon lovell deserves to be outed as a coward and failure along with saltstall. and dare i get into paul revere?? holy crap... we won the war despite these people not with them. revere was a major coward and had a god complex the size of the u.s. i can't say enough about him except that i get angry thinking about all the crap they tell us in school that is so SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO inaccurate. there are rumors about him around but this book gives a hellofa good dose of reality towards his real character. his family should be ashamed. and i don't believe in the sins of the father, but they should still be ashamed. one last thing... why haven't we heard of general wadsworth? he should be touched on by teachers and more pronounced in our history. not just due to his courage and tenacity of this battle but due to his whole history. i run into this sort of thing alot where i get historical info that is never brought forward that is so essential to a real view or our history and am amazed that it isn't ever brought to light. ok, maybe in revere's place they needed a hero, but we don't anymore. the more i learn history the more i learn the travisties of those hidden that deserve and or should be brought to light. the winners write history and usually they're full of shit.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      The Fort, A Novel of the Revolutionary War has been seriously researched. It is about a war that happened in Massachusetts that is not much mentioned, when studying the Revolutionary War in school, even though one of its main characters was Paul Revere. The story is gory, bloody and difficult to follow who is who because of all of the characters. The book kept its pace from the beginning until the end. However, the story just ended, hence the 3 star rating here.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Enjoyed this,swift moving adventure.
    • 3/5
      Penobscot battle- worst American defeat in Revolutionary War, so ending no surprise. Personalities run the story. Brits shown as neutral and heroic and Americans perfidious. Good to see another perspective. Surprising expose of the real Pual Revere as capricious, insubordinate, cowardly -- wasn't only one to warn of Brits coming. Longfellow created heroic image. Author's endnotes are very revealing.
    • 5/5
      As always, Cornwell hits it. Great historical novel, lots of facts, enhanced by action and some suspense. If you love this country and its rich History, you will love this book. Cornwell is British, who moved to the US to be with his American wife. He lives in Cape Cod and his library displays a huge American flag.
    • 2/5
      Book: The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War Author: Bernard Cornwell, narrated by Robin Bowerman Characters: John Moore and Paul RevereSetting: 1770’s Colonial America Theme: War heros Genre: Children’s historical fictionAudience: ages 15 and up Curriculum: American History class Summary: Narrator talks about the historical events that take place that began the American Revolution. There is a great emphasis on the travel of the war and it’s effects on American people. It also emphasizes on John Moore and Paul Revere as the heros. Personal Response: This was a book I found in under the children’s genre,but I found it to be more appropriate for high school or older. This is a story intended for those who enjoy and love history especially the Revolutionary War. I also enjoyed the telling of how the roles of John Moore and Paul Revere as heros, almost like Greek Mythology but with an American twist.
    • 5/5
      what to say about this book... alot really. it was written very well and i loved how he showed what was history and how to tell what was character as you read. it has alot of information in there but by the time i was done some illusions were shattered. for example i now have to say that if rest of our military was like these then it is only because of divine intervention that we became the united states. that solomon lovell deserves to be outed as a coward and failure along with saltstall. and dare i get into paul revere?? holy crap... we won the war despite these people not with them. revere was a major coward and had a god complex the size of the u.s. i can't say enough about him except that i get angry thinking about all the crap they tell us in school that is so SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO inaccurate. there are rumors about him around but this book gives a hellofa good dose of reality towards his real character. his family should be ashamed. and i don't believe in the sins of the father, but they should still be ashamed. one last thing... why haven't we heard of general wadsworth? he should be touched on by teachers and more pronounced in our history. not just due to his courage and tenacity of this battle but due to his whole history. i run into this sort of thing alot where i get historical info that is never brought forward that is so essential to a real view or our history and am amazed that it isn't ever brought to light. ok, maybe in revere's place they needed a hero, but we don't anymore. the more i learn history the more i learn the travisties of those hidden that deserve and or should be brought to light. the winners write history and usually they're full of shit.
    • 4/5
      Cornwell is writing more like Allan Eckert (the Winning of America series) here. I like it, but it doesn't grab me like his Sharpe books or his Aurthur books or his Saxon books did. I was a little embarassed at the performance of the Americans. They should have beaten the British! And I was horrified to learn about Paul Revere. I will sell all my Revereware on Ebay.
    • 4/5
      After reading The Fort I have come to the conclusion that we were very lucky to have won the war. If more leaders had been like the ones in charge at Penobscot we would have lost. I am also going to have to read some more on Paul Revere, he is not the hero history has made him out to be. All In all this is a very well written book that holds your attention and uses historical fact for its main theme and only adds to it for readers enjoyment. It's another good story from Mr. Cornwell.
    • 3/5
      Even though I’m from New England and read a bit more than average about the American Revolutionary War, I’d never heard of the Penobscot Expedition at all. That’s what attracted me to this book and for the most part it kept me engaged. Towards the end though, it seemed needlessly drawn out and I skimmed some of the last 50 pages or so. The reason was that we’d been too long with one particular scene - the battle at Majabigwaduce which became a very costly American loss. There was one scene, a bit more than half-way through that was off location and featured new characters, but it was too little too late and was abrupt and felt out of place. Also, it had no repercussions on the main theater so I don’t know why Cornwell put it in.That said, some of the characterizations were pretty great. Doctor Calef, while he didn’t turn out to have much page time, was the total asshole of the piece. Lovell the hapless idiot with feet too small for the shoes he was trying to fill. Saltonstall the stubborn tactician, all brains and no heart. Revere the slinking coward, too prideful to put his own interests ahead of the cause he bellowed so loudly about. McLean the fair and experienced General who uses craft and logic to defeat an enemy too unsure and undisciplined to win this battle. Wadsworth who, in opposite fashion of Lovell, grows into his boots and uses his powers of persuasion to affect change within his army.It was hard not to judge the loyalists too harshly, but in the end I found myself siding with them in the face of the sheer stupidity and obstructionism of the American leaders. Lovell was always getting ahead of himself picturing himself covered in glory and using their lone captured British flag as a napkin. He was a buffoon. He couldn’t see that the battery at Cross Island was a throw away. A feint to buy time for McLean to finish the fort. If he’s just pulled on his big boy pants and attacked the day they landed, Fort George would have been theirs. Ah hesitation, doubt and fear. It’s what separates a professional from an amateur and in hindsight, it’s a wonder there is a United States at all. Another thing that Cornwell does well is depict the individual circumstances and decisions that led to the big defeat. You could easily see them circling the drain from a lot of mistakes and stubborn clashes of will. The ammo not matching the guns. Not having enough boats to land the infantry at once. Not taking advantage of the enemy’s unpreparedness or clandestine information (a nice bit of spying between James and Beth Fletcher). Revere, Lovell and Saltonstall all pursuing their personal agendas instead of working as a team. Pathetic about sums it up.Those who can’t stomach graphic battle descriptions may want to avoid this one. Never before had I thought of the phrase ‘swab the deck’ in terms of washing away blood, viscera and bone. I should have, but wow, that was a stark revelation. That and being blinded by shards of wood flying into one’s eyes. Being completely eviscerated by cannon balls. One’s head exploding by a pistol fired at close range. An unarmed boy being clubbed to death. Bayoneting, scalping and swordplay also come into things. Lots of ways to die and none of them easy.So while the ending was a foregone conclusion, the book still provided enough tension to be interesting. Should have been shorter though, or included other storylines to break up the monotony of the endlessly slipping battle on what is now the Maine coast. Maybe shorten up the scenes at Penobscot in favor of adding the fallout which was Saltonstall’s dismissal from the Continental Navy and Paul Revere’s eventual court martial. For me, those would have been more interesting storylines than what was in the book. One of these days I want to get up and see the fort, which is still there.
    • 3/5
      Typical of Cornwell's books this new offering provides excellent characterisation and a well-paced and flowing plot. At times there were so many characters on display one had to go back and check on their origins. A glossary of characters could have been useful. I presume this book is another one-off American historical adventure similar to Redcoat. One minor issue I had with the book was that I felt the journal extracts before each new chapter were unnecessary as they interrupted the flow of the dialogue.
    • 5/5
      Excellent story woven with Cornwall's typical skill around a series of true events. As is usual with Cornwall you were learning something new about the campaign itself or just basic warfare at the time with each passing chapter, and the chapters passed quickly as it wasn't an easy book to put down.
    • 4/5
      The Fort has been my first encounter with Bernard Cornwell, though more than one person has raved about him to me. Over all, I am not disappointed. His writing is very well paced and snappy. He seems to be adept at explaining aspects of his settings without pulling the reader out of the story. Unfortunately, this book suffers not in style, but in subject. The Penobscot Expedition is a fascinating and oft overlooked piece of early American history, and sheds some light onto one of the biggest names of the Revolution, Paul Revere. Unfortunately, the historical battle in Majabigwaduce consisted of several weeks of ill advised waiting, followed by a disappointingly anti-climatic surrender. Cornwell tries to fit it into a fulfilling narrative arc, but he has little leeway to work with. His characters are interesting, and their problems visceral, but as in real life, they just don't go anywhere. That being said, it is well written, and I do look forward to reading more Cornwell in the future, especial his Sharpe novels. My only real problem is his irritating habit of ending every section with a pithy, often fragmented sentence that briefly states what's going to happen next. It would be cute if it was not so infuriatingly, obviously repetitive.
    • 5/5
      A fascinating look at the making of American history.Among other adventures the book highlights the dramatic failings of American Hero Paul Revere in his one and only military endevour. Bernard Cornwell looks into; “...the often enormous gap between myth and reality.”“The gap is understandable when we're dealing with a quasi-historical figure like King Arthur who, if he exised at all, flourished in an age when record keeping was almost non-existent, but how could that happen to a man like Paul Revere who lived in an age of literacy and at a time when history was being recorded by newspapers, official records and diarists? The answer, of course, is that myth is more powerful than truth, and myth is necessary.”So, there were great American heros at Majabigwaduce but, according to their records, Revere was not one of them. Not until years later when Longfellow wrote him into his mythical poem.
    • 1/5
      It just was not up to the standards of Cornwall’s other books.