The First Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch

George Washington was waiting tensely in New York for the British troops to arrive in June 1776 when John Jay and others of his intelligence officers uncovered a plot to overthrow the army and betray Washington to the British.  This is a over dramatized account of how the plot came about and how it was discovered.

In a forward Meltzer states that he saw the plot mentioned in a footnote of a history he was reading. He was intrigued and went to talk to a Washington historian about it.  The historian said that it was an interesting side note, but that there were probably not enough original sources about it to put together a clear picture of what really happened.  Meltzer was determined to prove him wrong.

In the end, however, the historian was probably right. The whole story could have probably been adequately told in 100 pages or less. Meltzer restates the same facts over and over, trying to draw more drama and action from them than is really there.  He also says "we have no documents that say how....but we can imagine that..."  about a hundred times.  So even though this is in the nonfiction section, it is mostly fictionalized.  Worst of all, he flattens all the characters.  Washington is this demigod hero, and William Tryon and anyone siding with the Tory is a black-hearted traitor. (Meltzer seems to forget that during the time period when these events take place, the Colonies were still under British rule, so technically it was Washington who was the traitor.) 

All that said, I did enjoy the book a little.  I like reading about history and there were some interesting facts I picked up from this book that I didn't remember hearing before.  Still, if I knew the author, I would suggest that he stick with fiction. (413p. 2019)