
A Leap in the Dark
The Struggle to Create the American Republic
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Narrated by:
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Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff
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By:
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John Ferling
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 audiobook 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.
©2003 John Ferling (P)2013 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















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The deeper one dives into Revolutionary history, you start to the sense that the Rebels really didn't have it so bad and there's an undercurrent of "what's the big deal?" That's not to say the American Revolution was a bad thing (it certainly wasn't), but with more and more examples of real oppressive tyranny occupying the historical space between the Revolution and now, complaints about George III or Parliament sound *almost* quaint.
Ferling's history eschews the histrionic and melodramatic and works from the premise that those pushing for rebellion had legitimate grievances, but that they tended to be of a type: economic interests and economic independence threatened or impinged upon coupled with a consistent lack of respect or influence from/within Parliament. As a result, his framing of much of the debates/conflicts over what form the government should take (and debates after the ratification) has an economic focus of agrarian Republicans vs merchant and moneyed Federalists.
Unfortunately, Ferling could have done a deeper dive into this economic framing device but really doesn't. So as a result we get a perfectly fine general history that leaves the reader wanting a little more of the suggested premise.
The Founding with a light focus on economics.
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I have enjoyed Ferling's work before and he does not disappoint. Get it!
Loved every minute!
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Detailed history of American Revolution and after.
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But I would seriously recommend boning up on some of the pronunciation because it can be a bit jarring. There are quite a number of mispronunciations, the worst being pronouncing “impugn” to rhyme with “plunge.” Overall though, very informative and captivating telling of the material
Narrator needs to bone up
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a recapitulation with a distinct view
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Review
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Decent book, poor narration.
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Marvelous book, terrible reader
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Very disappointed
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