A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American RepublicOxford University Press, 12. jun. 2003 - 576 strani It was an age of fascinating leaders and difficult choices, of grand ideas eloquently expressed and of epic conflicts bitterly fought. Now comes a brilliant portrait of the American Revolution, one that is compelling in its prose, fascinating in its details, and provocative in its fresh interpretations. In A Leap in the Dark, John Ferling offers a magisterial new history that surges from the first rumblings of colonial protest to the volcanic election of 1800. Ferling's swift-moving narrative teems with fascinating details. We see Benjamin Franklin trying to decide if his loyalty was to Great Britain or to America, and we meet George Washington when he was a shrewd planter-businessman who discovered personal economic advantages to American independence. We encounter those who supported the war against Great Britain in 1776, but opposed independence because it was a "leap in the dark." Following the war, we hear talk in the North of secession from the United States. The author offers a gripping account of the most dramatic events of our history, showing just how closely fought were the struggle for independence, the adoption of the Constitution, and the later battle between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. Yet, without slowing the flow of events, he has also produced a landmark study of leadership and ideas. Here is all the erratic brilliance of Hamilton and Jefferson battling to shape the new nation, and here too is the passion and political shrewdness of revolutionaries, such as Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry, and their Loyalist counterparts, Joseph Galloway and Thomas Hutchinson. Here as well are activists who are not so well known today, men like Abraham Yates, who battled for democratic change, and Theodore Sedgwick, who fought to preserve the political and social system of the colonial past. Ferling shows that throughout this period the epic political battles often resembled today's politics and the politicians--the founders--played a political hardball attendant with enmities, selfish motivations, and bitterness. The political stakes, this book demonstrates, were extraordinary: first to secure independence, then to determine the meaning of the American Revolution. John Ferling has shown himself to be an insightful historian of our Revolution, and an unusually skillful writer. A Leap in the Dark is his masterpiece, work that provokes, enlightens, and entertains in full measure. |
Iz vsebine knjige
Zadetki 1–5 od 85
Stran xiii
... remained uncertain as two factions with competing visions of the American future and clashing understandings of the meaning of the American Revolution battled for control of the new national government. Only with the presidential ...
... remained uncertain as two factions with competing visions of the American future and clashing understandings of the meaning of the American Revolution battled for control of the new national government. Only with the presidential ...
Stran 4
... remained hidden. When they reached the Monongahela River, about thirty miles below the Ohio, they spotted the log cabin of an English Indian trader. Washington paused only long enough to learn what the trader knew of recent Indian ...
... remained hidden. When they reached the Monongahela River, about thirty miles below the Ohio, they spotted the log cabin of an English Indian trader. Washington paused only long enough to learn what the trader knew of recent Indian ...
Stran 5
... remained white, slogged through thick, black bogs, and from time to time used hastily built log rafts to make their way through seemingly impenetrable swamps. Finally, nearly 100 miles north of the Forks of the Ohio, and just south of ...
... remained white, slogged through thick, black bogs, and from time to time used hastily built log rafts to make their way through seemingly impenetrable swamps. Finally, nearly 100 miles north of the Forks of the Ohio, and just south of ...
Stran 24
... remained safely at home, reaped the benefits of one generous defense contract after another. In the French and Indian War, while thousands more men from New England bore arms, he grew still richer as a war contractor, a sideline that ...
... remained safely at home, reaped the benefits of one generous defense contract after another. In the French and Indian War, while thousands more men from New England bore arms, he grew still richer as a war contractor, a sideline that ...
Stran 37
... remained in effect—into taking a more intrepid stand. That would explain the timing of the events in Boston, as news of August riots would have time to eddy through all America by the time the congress convened in October. The ...
... remained in effect—into taking a more intrepid stand. That would explain the timing of the events in Boston, as news of August riots would have time to eddy through all America by the time the congress convened in October. The ...
Vsebina
1 | |
23 | |
3 17661770 To Crush the Spirit of the Colonies | 53 |
4 17701774 The Cause of Boston Now Is the Cause of America | 87 |
5 17751776 To Die Freemen Rather Than to Live Slaves | 123 |
6 17761777 A Leap Into the Dark | 167 |
7 17781782 This Wilderness of Darkness Dangers | 209 |
8 17831787 The Present Paroxysm of Our Affairs | 247 |
10 17901793 Prosperous at Home Respectable Abroad | 315 |
11 17931796 A Colossus to the Antirepublican Party | 355 |
12 17971799 A Game Where Principles Are the Stake | 405 |
13 17991801 The Gigg Is Up | 451 |
14 1801 An Age of Revolution and Reformation | 477 |
Abbreviations | 489 |
Notes | 493 |
Index | 539 |
Druge izdaje - Prikaži vse
A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic John Ferling Predogled ni na voljo - 2003 |
A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic John E. Ferling Predogled ni na voljo - 2003 |
Pogosti izrazi in povedi
action addition American Revolution appeared army arrived assembly authority believed Boston Britain British called colonies colonists committee con Congress congressmen Constitution Continental Convention crisis delegates Dickinson earlier early election England existed feared Federalists followed force France Franklin French Furthermore Galloway governor Hamilton hand hope House immediately independence interests issue Jefferson John Adams July June knew land late later Letters liberty lived London Madison March Massachusetts meeting merchants military months Morris national government never North once party peace Pennsylvania Philadelphia political popular president proposed radical remained remarked Republican result Samuel Adams secure Sedgwick sent served society soon sought South Stamp step Thomas thought throughout tion told took trade treaty turned Union United Virginia vote Washington weeks wished York