I’m just finishing up “The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington” by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch. It’s about a little known plot by the Brits to assassinate George Washington and other top military leaders of our fledgling Continental Army in the early days of 1776. The assassination plot alone is fascinating, but the book is also chock full of historical tidbits. For instance, at one point the Brits had a plot to recruit people with contagious small pox to infiltrate our Army to spread the disease among our troops, an early and crude form of biological warfare. Also, black people served as full soldiers in the Continental Army (despite Washington’s initial reluctance to allow this), the last time our armed forces were fully integrated until Vietnam.
Unlike a lot of historical books, this book is not a heavy slog; rather the writing style is breezy (and at times even a bit overwrought). All in all it’s a fun read about our earliest history.
