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Dreams of Glory
"The best spy novel written about the American Revolution." - John Gardner
Freezing winds cut across the snowbound landscape. George Washington's rebel troops shiver in their huts, bellies empty, and carrying resentment sharper than their swords. Across the frozen Hudson, the British carouse in the brothels of New York, while their leaders plot to break the deadlock that threatens to bleed the British Empire dry. Thomas Flemings's Revolutionary War masterpiece, Dreams of Glory, takes place in the bitter winter of 1780 in the fifth year of the American War for Independence.
The British conspire to kidnap Washington and bring the war to an end in one bold and daring raid. A tide of espionage ebbs and flows between the opposing armies. Two very different men are sucked into these vicious young, earnest Caleb Chandler and sleek, self-serving Congressman Hugh Stapleton. Despite their mutual dislike, both are destined to follow the same path, which leads to the heart of Flora Kuyper and the grasp of British spymaster Walter Beckford. Caught amidst the dangerous affections of Flora, the machinations of Beckford, and the bitter patriotism of counterpart Benjamin Stallworth, there is no safety for man or woman. This is a world of plot and counterplot, where a night of love can lead to an act of treason and a man's ideals can fashion a noose around his neck.
"Thomas Fleming is one of my favorite writers because he combines powerful storytelling with the skills of a superb historian." - John Jakes
Freezing winds cut across the snowbound landscape. George Washington's rebel troops shiver in their huts, bellies empty, and carrying resentment sharper than their swords. Across the frozen Hudson, the British carouse in the brothels of New York, while their leaders plot to break the deadlock that threatens to bleed the British Empire dry. Thomas Flemings's Revolutionary War masterpiece, Dreams of Glory, takes place in the bitter winter of 1780 in the fifth year of the American War for Independence.
The British conspire to kidnap Washington and bring the war to an end in one bold and daring raid. A tide of espionage ebbs and flows between the opposing armies. Two very different men are sucked into these vicious young, earnest Caleb Chandler and sleek, self-serving Congressman Hugh Stapleton. Despite their mutual dislike, both are destined to follow the same path, which leads to the heart of Flora Kuyper and the grasp of British spymaster Walter Beckford. Caught amidst the dangerous affections of Flora, the machinations of Beckford, and the bitter patriotism of counterpart Benjamin Stallworth, there is no safety for man or woman. This is a world of plot and counterplot, where a night of love can lead to an act of treason and a man's ideals can fashion a noose around his neck.
"Thomas Fleming is one of my favorite writers because he combines powerful storytelling with the skills of a superb historian." - John Jakes
654 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1983
153 people are currently reading
155 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Fleming
127 books146 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Thomas James Fleming was an historian and historical novelist, with a special interest in the American Revolution. He was born in 1927 in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of a World War I hero who was a leader in Jersey City politics for three decades. Before her marriage, his mother, Katherine Dolan Fleming, was a teacher in the Jersey City Public School System.
After graduating from St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City, Fleming spent a year in the United States Navy. He received a Bachelor's degree, with honors, from Fordham University in 1950. After brief stints as a newspaperman and magazine editor, he became a full-time writer in 1960. His first history book, Now We Are Enemies, an account of the Battle of Bunker Hill, was published that same year. It was a best-seller, reviewed in more than 75 newspapers and featured as a main selection of the Literary Guild.
Fleming published books about various events and figures of the Revolutionary era. He also wrote about other periods of American history and wrote over a dozen well-received novels set against various historical backgrounds. He said, "I never wanted to be an Irish American writer, my whole idea was to get across that bridge and be an American writer".
Fleming died at his home in New York City on July 23, 2017, at the age of 90.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Thomas James Fleming was an historian and historical novelist, with a special interest in the American Revolution. He was born in 1927 in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of a World War I hero who was a leader in Jersey City politics for three decades. Before her marriage, his mother, Katherine Dolan Fleming, was a teacher in the Jersey City Public School System.
After graduating from St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City, Fleming spent a year in the United States Navy. He received a Bachelor's degree, with honors, from Fordham University in 1950. After brief stints as a newspaperman and magazine editor, he became a full-time writer in 1960. His first history book, Now We Are Enemies, an account of the Battle of Bunker Hill, was published that same year. It was a best-seller, reviewed in more than 75 newspapers and featured as a main selection of the Literary Guild.
Fleming published books about various events and figures of the Revolutionary era. He also wrote about other periods of American history and wrote over a dozen well-received novels set against various historical backgrounds. He said, "I never wanted to be an Irish American writer, my whole idea was to get across that bridge and be an American writer".
Fleming died at his home in New York City on July 23, 2017, at the age of 90.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 19, 2018
Having read a number of the late Thomas Fleming’s history books, I purchased this book solely on the strength of his name, and didn’t have a clue that this was historical fiction until I began reading. Although I was not looking for a novel, Mr. Fleming’s talent for digging through the layers of history and finding items of interest soon had me caught up in what I first thought was based on fantasy. The author’s Afterward, however, cleared up any thoughts that the story wasn’t based upon fact.
“Dreams of Glory” is based upon a 1780 British plot to capture General Washington and swiftly end the Revolutionary War. Many of the characters lived during this period in history, and the book has been researched and built on the letters, diaries, and other written items that have survived through the years.
I suppose it is inevitable for an author’s feelings to work their way into his craft, and this book is no exception. In these instances, it seemed that only the extreme ends of the issues were represented, marking a good/evil territory and reducing some of the characters to one-dimensional status. Fortunately, Mr. Fleming’s excellent writing style glosses over this area, and the plot reads as well as any modern-day thriller. I couldn’t help but get caught up in the lives of people forced to make decisions of loyalty to one cause or the other.
Whether you are a fan of history, historical fiction, or just enjoy a good story, “Dreams of Glory” is a satisfactory and entertaining read. Five stars.
“Dreams of Glory” is based upon a 1780 British plot to capture General Washington and swiftly end the Revolutionary War. Many of the characters lived during this period in history, and the book has been researched and built on the letters, diaries, and other written items that have survived through the years.
I suppose it is inevitable for an author’s feelings to work their way into his craft, and this book is no exception. In these instances, it seemed that only the extreme ends of the issues were represented, marking a good/evil territory and reducing some of the characters to one-dimensional status. Fortunately, Mr. Fleming’s excellent writing style glosses over this area, and the plot reads as well as any modern-day thriller. I couldn’t help but get caught up in the lives of people forced to make decisions of loyalty to one cause or the other.
Whether you are a fan of history, historical fiction, or just enjoy a good story, “Dreams of Glory” is a satisfactory and entertaining read. Five stars.
August 14, 2022
3.5 stars. An enjoyable fictional novel about revolutionary war America and the role played by spies. My second reading of Thomas Fleming. Took a bit to get the characters straight (Stapleton, Stallworth), especially since several of them were double agents.
February 20, 2019
The author is a superb historian and story teller. His writing mechanics are excellent. This novel has several plots which mesh into a fascinating account of the near kidnapping of George Washington in the final days of the Revolutionary War. The book has accounts of spies and counter spies, ladies of the evening and their unlikely customers (the loveliest lady had a history nearly beyond belief), men in drag, and at least one homosexual getting 'turned.'
The author uses words not commonly heard to tell stories not commonly known. He has authored other books using the same style, and I like the style very much.
Thank you, Mr. Fleming, for a good read.
The author uses words not commonly heard to tell stories not commonly known. He has authored other books using the same style, and I like the style very much.
Thank you, Mr. Fleming, for a good read.
January 29, 2019
Charles van Buren
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Not up to Fleming's usual standard
January 28, 2019
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
This review is of the New Word City, Inc.; 1 edition (November 13, 2017)
Publication Date: November 13, 2017
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
My first Thomas Fleming novel was NOW WE ARE ENEMIES. I found it in my father's library when I was about 10 or 11. He guaranteed that I would read it by telling me that it was too advanced and that I wouldn't understand it. I have had a warm place in my heart for Fleming ever since. It pains me to report that this book is not up to the usual standard of his historical novels. From a U.S. Congressman appearing some years before such creatures existed, to an over reliance on quite a few not particularly good sex scenes, this novel fails to enthrall. There are flashes of brilliance but not enough to keep me reading.
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Not up to Fleming's usual standard
January 28, 2019
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
This review is of the New Word City, Inc.; 1 edition (November 13, 2017)
Publication Date: November 13, 2017
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
My first Thomas Fleming novel was NOW WE ARE ENEMIES. I found it in my father's library when I was about 10 or 11. He guaranteed that I would read it by telling me that it was too advanced and that I wouldn't understand it. I have had a warm place in my heart for Fleming ever since. It pains me to report that this book is not up to the usual standard of his historical novels. From a U.S. Congressman appearing some years before such creatures existed, to an over reliance on quite a few not particularly good sex scenes, this novel fails to enthrall. There are flashes of brilliance but not enough to keep me reading.
January 13, 2023
A Splendid Tale based on Factual happenings… & MICE
The muddled, murky & mysterious world of 18th Century Espionage in the fight of the New World against the Old. (Oh, & some interlopers from Germany & France!)
A classic array of colourful characters with multiple iterations & enactments of MICE: (A very good structure for a novel, ask Henry W & Moo-gun!)
Money - is a huge factor on all sides for all people. The American Army were wearing rags and starved half to death. The Traders (including many Congressmen) were making fortunes out of both sides - shipping supplies and stores. Spies, were crossing, double & triple crossing to; fill their pockets with gold, their bellies with food and drink, and their private parts with unending entertainment (often freezing them off!)
Ideology - The ‘Rebels’ wanted freedom from the oppressive regime of King G III + Royal Family. The Royal Army & their Loyalist American cohorts were doing everything to suppress the revolutionary ideologues.
Coercion - is the centre point of this book! It’s full of physical, psychological, ideological & economical control freaks, narcissistic, greedy, corrupt & psychologically challenged rogues. Everyone’s fooling, controlling or deceiving everyone else! (There were early examples of antagonists using the media & publishers to promulgate lies & deception!) The levels of coercion & control-freakery are at times quite scary (almost as scary as ‘Big Bad Willy shouting & screaming at ‘Poor Little Henry the Hairy Faced Moaner!)
Ego - the egocentric, egoistic, egoistical, egomaniacal, egotistic, self-absorbed, self-centered, self-involved, selfish, self-seeking, self-serving, self-loving, unhinged, (sometimes) despicable & always delusional characters in this tale are, ‘without doubt, what makes this book so very worth your time in reading it!’ It’s ‘Markle-esque’ I’ve read a fair few books on this period, and must say this is one of the ‘stand out’ best of them.
I’ll now be going off to read more of this author.
One last word: Do try to avoid letting MICE control or drive your life. ‘SPARE’ yourself reading anything that may be based on this acronym. One may even suspect; if such a book were to exist, why, it could almost be the fastest selling non-fiction book ever!
The muddled, murky & mysterious world of 18th Century Espionage in the fight of the New World against the Old. (Oh, & some interlopers from Germany & France!)
A classic array of colourful characters with multiple iterations & enactments of MICE: (A very good structure for a novel, ask Henry W & Moo-gun!)
Money - is a huge factor on all sides for all people. The American Army were wearing rags and starved half to death. The Traders (including many Congressmen) were making fortunes out of both sides - shipping supplies and stores. Spies, were crossing, double & triple crossing to; fill their pockets with gold, their bellies with food and drink, and their private parts with unending entertainment (often freezing them off!)
Ideology - The ‘Rebels’ wanted freedom from the oppressive regime of King G III + Royal Family. The Royal Army & their Loyalist American cohorts were doing everything to suppress the revolutionary ideologues.
Coercion - is the centre point of this book! It’s full of physical, psychological, ideological & economical control freaks, narcissistic, greedy, corrupt & psychologically challenged rogues. Everyone’s fooling, controlling or deceiving everyone else! (There were early examples of antagonists using the media & publishers to promulgate lies & deception!) The levels of coercion & control-freakery are at times quite scary (almost as scary as ‘Big Bad Willy shouting & screaming at ‘Poor Little Henry the Hairy Faced Moaner!)
Ego - the egocentric, egoistic, egoistical, egomaniacal, egotistic, self-absorbed, self-centered, self-involved, selfish, self-seeking, self-serving, self-loving, unhinged, (sometimes) despicable & always delusional characters in this tale are, ‘without doubt, what makes this book so very worth your time in reading it!’ It’s ‘Markle-esque’ I’ve read a fair few books on this period, and must say this is one of the ‘stand out’ best of them.
I’ll now be going off to read more of this author.
One last word: Do try to avoid letting MICE control or drive your life. ‘SPARE’ yourself reading anything that may be based on this acronym. One may even suspect; if such a book were to exist, why, it could almost be the fastest selling non-fiction book ever!
January 12, 2018
Well, maybe 3.5. Add to your understanding of the American revolutionary war, but don't expect spine-tingling drama in this historical fiction. It's above average, but just above.
Author-historian Thomas Fleming pulls together facts about members of the Stapleton family of New Jersey to offer a number of good morsels of the time period, enough to send you to a map of the mid-Atlantic state. But, while you get the flavor of the era and of the war, there were a few stretches where the history came in a bite so large one could lose track of the novel's main plot.
Perhaps a measure of the mystery, as it were, is that the book really doesn't become a page-turner until the final 50 pages or so. Not that that makes it a bad book, just not a great one.
Author-historian Thomas Fleming pulls together facts about members of the Stapleton family of New Jersey to offer a number of good morsels of the time period, enough to send you to a map of the mid-Atlantic state. But, while you get the flavor of the era and of the war, there were a few stretches where the history came in a bite so large one could lose track of the novel's main plot.
Perhaps a measure of the mystery, as it were, is that the book really doesn't become a page-turner until the final 50 pages or so. Not that that makes it a bad book, just not a great one.
February 4, 2022
This isn't terrible. It's just not good. I think what bothered me most about it was that it was a novel set during the Revolution that read like a novel written today - the language, the attitudes, etc. were not those of the Revolutionary period, and so it simply doesn't lend itself to being good historical fiction. The difference in language between James Fenimore Cooper's spy novel set in the same era is rather dramatic. One of the authors lived in the period, the other is a historian who writes excellent histories, but if this is any indication of his fiction - not great stories. At no point did I think this was a filled in story that might have actually happened. It's fails as a work of historical fiction.
March 3, 2020
Different sides views
Many expressed views that New England and Virginia were revolutionary powder kegs. As a historical fiction this book brought bits of truth to the cause that I didn’t know— that the British tried to capture Washington in his winter quarters. It also showed the cruelty of war and dangers of being a spy. Loving this time of our history made the book a great read for me.
Many expressed views that New England and Virginia were revolutionary powder kegs. As a historical fiction this book brought bits of truth to the cause that I didn’t know— that the British tried to capture Washington in his winter quarters. It also showed the cruelty of war and dangers of being a spy. Loving this time of our history made the book a great read for me.
January 25, 2018
I was really looking forward to this after watching TURN: Washington's Spies on AMC but the book made it difficult to follow the spies and double agents and keep track of who was doing what trickery to whom. Plus, the storyline kept jumping to each characters backstory. For a while, I thought I had missed a prequel! I didn't like the rather abrupt ending, either.
February 17, 2019
A pretty good spy novel.
I enjoyed reading this book for the story line. I have had an interest in the effect of intelligence during the Revolutionary war.I didn't think they romanticism was very good,but other people may enjoy that aspect more.
I enjoyed reading this book for the story line. I have had an interest in the effect of intelligence during the Revolutionary war.I didn't think they romanticism was very good,but other people may enjoy that aspect more.
April 30, 2019
If you are looking for a romance novel set in the period of time of the Revolutionary War, then this book might be for you. I was looking for more action in an historical novel. The book reads well, but it was not what I was looking for in an action read.
August 28, 2019
Don't know how I got involved in this historical fiction from an author known more as a prolific historian. Spies and double-agents, a mysterious prostitute, and a plot to kidnap Washington in the stalemated 5th year of the Revolution. Interesting.
June 5, 2020
I tried reading this book to help me get my mind off of my many problems. This book didn't help. It's too silly for words with embarrassing sex scenes, cardboard characters and twentieth-century dialogue. But what really set me against it was the animal abuse. That was sick.
January 18, 2018
Finished it just to reach my goal. I wish books had ratings like movies do.
September 3, 2018
Not at all what I expected. I quit reading it which I rarely do
September 6, 2020
2.5 to 3 stars - and I'm over this series
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January 24, 2023Unfinished
June 11, 2009
I bought this b/c it was about the Revolutionary War. It turned out to be a border-line romance novel based in that period. Having said that, there was enough history to get me through it and not find it horrible.
September 29, 2009
God story wit a lot of hitorical significance. We were lucky to have won the war. This is a true story about a lot to kidnap George washington in the fifth year of the struggle. It is somewhat of a spy novel.
I will probabl read more of Thomas Fleming.
I will probabl read more of Thomas Fleming.
April 12, 2011
An interesting story told in a marginally engaging way. It was hard to keep track of the characters or care much about them
September 12, 2013
A story with force.
June 18, 2014
The sequel to Wait Until Morning. I enjoyed this book. Lots of real life characters from the revolutionary . Meanies you want to get the history books out and learn more about u.s. History!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews