The National Road - by Brady J Crytzer (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Timed for America's 250th anniversary, The National Road is the story of a new republic forging unity through ambition and action, driven by George Washington's youthful dream to build the nation's first highway west.

The National Road is the first narrative history of the federal project--begun decades before the nation itself was born and ranging through the 1830s--that connected the United States across the Alleghenies and into the western frontier. Starting with a young Washington's dream of uniting the Potomac and Ohio Rivers, historian Brady J. Crytzer recounts the political debates, personal rivalries, and engineering marvels that culminated in an artery that brought settlers, ideas, and commerce into the American interior.

Washington scouted the western frontier as a surveyor and championed a route to unify the fledgling republic. Albert Gallatin, America's longest tenured secretary of the treasury, battled political opposition to fund the project. Thomas Jefferson, torn between his agrarian ideals and the demands of a growing republic, ultimately championed the road as a means of securing western lands and extending democratic reach. And Henry Clay harnessed the road to advance his bold American System.

Filled with visionaries, rebels, and everyday families seeking the American dream, and featuring congressional showdowns and backroom deals to mountain crossings and boisterous frontier towns, The National Road reveals the triumphs and tragedies of an infrastructure saga that helped define the United States.

Review Quotes

For The National Road:

"Brady Crytzer's scholarship and storytelling skills have restored the National Road's significance for the early American republic and for our own time. Through his engaging portraits of George Washington, Albert Gallatin, and Henry Clay, he captures key debates over the federal government's role in infrastructure and the National Road's crucial role in America's westward expansion."
--David L. Preston, The Citadel, Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize-winning author of Braddock's Defeat: The Battle of the Monongahela and the Road to Revolution

"The vivid, compelling, and rarely-researched story of our first national highway. Full of captivating detail and astounding twists and turns, Crytzer's The National Road recounts how a revolving roster of American stalwarts--Washington, Jefferson, Albert Gallatin, Henry Clay--managed to conceive and establish this essential artery for western expansion."
--Tom McMillan, author of The Year That Made America: From Rebellion to Independence, 1775-1776

"With The National Road, Brady Crytzer builds upon his impressive record as a chronicler of the young and bustling American republic. This dynamic narrative explores a century-long journey of ambition, danger, and speculation across the generations. A lively blend of political history and backcountry adventure."
--Jared Frederick, author of Fierce Valor: The True Story of Ronald Speirs and His Band of Brothers

For The Whiskey Rebellion:

"[A] vivid account of what contemporaries called "the Western Insurrection," . . . Crytzer grounds his engaging narrative upon intimate knowledge of the landscape where events unfolded, identifying locations linked with the insurgents and the troops sent against them."
--Wall Street Journal

"[A] fast-paced narrative of the Whiskey Rebellion. . . . Crytzer offers abundant fresh insight into what was arguably the greatest crisis of George Washington's presidency."
--Woody Holton, author of Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution

"By tracing the history of the 'Whiskey Rebellion' . . . Crytzer gives us a layered view of our landscape and also of the ongoing, evolving, and very American contention between federal and populist power."
--Daniel Bullen, author of Daniel Shays's Honorable Rebellion: An American Story

About the Author

Brady J. Crytzer is a historian of the American frontier and the award-winning author of The Whiskey Rebellion, Guyasuta and the Fall of Indian America, and Hessians: Mercenaries, Rebels, and the War for British North America. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the Journal of the American Revolution. He is the host of the acclaimed podcast Dispatches, and he appears regularly on the cable series Into the Wild Frontier and Outlaws and Lawmen, as well as Fox Nation's new series, Blood On The Bridge: The Battle of Lexington & Concord. He teaches at Robert Morris University.