Review: George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution by Brian Kilmeade

If you love the AMC TV show TURN: Washington's Spies, you'll love this non-fiction account of the same topic. I know the show was actually created from Alexander Rose's history book "Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring" but they were both on sale on Kindle and I couldn't decide so I just got both and wound up reading this one first. And honestly, I'm not sure how or why the show claims to be based on a non-fiction book when a non-fiction book is factual... so really, it's just based on history, and this is also a non-fictional book about that history.

I honestly had no idea just how important espionage was during the Revolutionary War. When I thought of this topic, I thought of what I learned in school: founding fathers, minutemen, Paul Revere, etc. But now I know it's so much more than that, and there was so much more going on in the background. They don't teach this in schools, but they should, maybe kids would pay attention.

Never boring or dry, this book really pulls you into the spy ring and let's you get to know each individual involved. At the end, it also explores who female agent 355 might have been. Sometimes, it's so juicy, I can't believe it really happened. It was interesting to compare and contrast it with the show too, which did add some fictional elements and make some changes, but not so much that it draws away from the real history, which makes me love the show even more.

This is precisely the kind of history book I would recommend to people who (wrongly) think history is boring, but it's also thrilling for those who already appreciate history. I don't think I've ever blown through non-fiction this fast.