Table of ContentsIntroductionSummaryAuthor ArgumentsReviewConclusionIntroductionIn Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Network , Alexander Rose tells the story of the spy network that helped America win the Revolutionary War. Rose takes us beyond the battlefields into the secret world of double agents and triple crossings, classified operations including codebreaking, and tells the story of a few spies who accomplished these top secret missions. Rose focuses on four longtime friends who created the Culper Ring, one of whom was American Major Benjamin Tallmadge. He reveals this third-person system of operation and outlines the method that led America to victory against Britain, also mentioning other people's reactions to this savage method. This article is intended to review Rose's book and its main points, evaluate the excellence of Rose's writing, and focus on the story's weaknesses. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essaySummaryThis section contains a summary of Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Network. Alexander Rose begins the story in the summer of 1778, when the war was expected to turn in favor of General George Washington. Washington desperately wanted to know what the British plan was and where they planned to attack next. At the time, Britain's headquarters was located in New York. So, to figure out their plan, Washington sent a small group of men, who would soon become the Culper Ring, to New York to gain information on their military strategies, including their future battle plans. In initiating this process, he recognized that the plan's chances of success were unlikely. However, Washington went against all odds, unleashing its secret weapon. Washington's spies included a young Quaker, Nathan Hale, who had been educated at Yale, an ailing farmer who begged to retire but still supported Washington, and Benjamin Tallmadge, an American. military officer of the time, and Abraham Woodhull. Although each of the men proved to be excellent spies, the sickly farmer stood out by enlisting to do whatever was necessary to help Washington. Ironically, he turned out to be an expert in espionage. The intelligence networks created by the spies became known as the Culper Ring. Even though Washington thought these men were underperforming, he obtained a tremendous amount of information from the Culper Ring that may never have been discovered. To communicate with Washington, the spies had to develop their own espionage system, including invisible ink and attempts at cryptography. Additionally, the British knew of the Culper Ring and were determined to stop them. They would pay for information about the Culper Ring, and if they thought you knew something and didn't tell, they would punish you severely. The British unwittingly lead the spies to discover loyalty, betrayal and friendship. Although Alexander Rose was not present at this time, he provided detailed information about the lives of spies within the Culper Ring. Author's Arguments As stated above, Rose's primary goal in writing Washington's Spies is to inform the reader of the intelligence of the Patriot spies by revealing the complex and secret world that helped America win the warof independence. The three main points or arguments presented by Rose were the complexity of the spy's communication tactics with Washington, the importance of remaining unidentified in the eyes of the British, and the overall experience of the Revolutionary War. Communicating with Washington in the late 1700s was difficult enough, but communicating without anyone knowing was a real task. The members of the Culper Ring must have been among the smartest of their generation. Cryptography, or secret codes, was one method used. Spies used symbols, codes and signs to transmit different messages undercover. Invisible ink played a huge role in cryptography; darkrooms used to scan mail did not detect invisible ink, giving spies a private way to exchange messages with Washington. To interpret the letters, the government would heat the letters and the message would be revealed by the spies. “There are about five hundred known formulas of sympathetic ink, and probably several hundred more could be concocted.” George Washington also used encryption to transmit letters by making a certain letter represent a different number, letter, or person. “Its code was a distant descendant of the Ave Maria cipher created by a priest, Johannes Trithemius.” To say that the system of communication between Washington and its spies was complex would be an understatement. Remaining unidentified in the eyes of the British was also a difficult undertaking because not only did the spies have to stay undercover, but they also had to gather tons of confidential information. . Whether it was just talking to the townspeople and collecting what little they could, or struggling to hear town meetings. Spies often posed "as merchants" and "discussed the defenses of West Point" with British generals to retain information. One of the spies, Woodhull, traveled daily between New York and Long Island to gather information and observe naval tactics. Dedication to the Culper Ring was essential to success, and it also made unpleasant circumstances less bad for the spies. The Culper Ring members' overall experience during their espionage periods centered around Washington's spies. Rose documents the “long and bitter experiences” endured by the spies. They have been through a lot physically and mentally; away from their families, they experienced loneliness and faced all the pressure of their job to gather information and please their boss, George Washington. EvaluationThis section contains an evaluation of Rose's book. First, Alexander Rose did a phenomenal job chronicling the time when the Culper Ring was in action. He told the stories from each member's point of view, and at certain points in the story you felt like you knew the men personally. Rose also introduced the book using simple word choice. Rose informed the reader in detail about the tactics used by George Washington, and he tells you what the spies' tactics were to obtain information. Although Rose does an excellent job informing the reader of tactics, it almost seems like he is dragging the information out and spreading it far and wide. This flaw constitutes a minor weakness in his writing style. A second weakness in Rose's writing style is that at certain points in the story I found myself very confused and unsure about what was happening, leading to numerous rereads. At the beginning of the story (chapters 1 to 3), I wondered if the.