Agony and Eloquence

John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and a World of Revolution

By: Daniel L. Mallock

Narrated by: Jonathan Yen

Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

The drama of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson is the foundational story of America - courage, loyalty, hope, fanaticism, greatness, failure, forgiveness, love. Agony and Eloquence is the story of the greatest friendship in American history and the revolutionary times in which it was made, ruined, and finally renewed.

In the wake of Washington's retirement, longtime friends Thomas Jefferson and John Adams came to represent the opposing political forces struggling to shape America's future. Adams' victory in the presidential election of 1796 brought Jefferson into his administration - but as an unlikely and deeply conflicted vice president. The bloody Republican revolution in France finally brought their political differences to a bitter pitch.

In Mallock's take on this fascinating period, French foreign policy and revolutionary developments - from the fall of the Bastille to the fall of the Jacobins and the rise of Napoleon - form a disturbing and illuminating counterpoint to events, controversies, individuals, and relationships in Philadelphia and Washington. Many important and fascinating people appear in the book, including Thomas Paine, Camille Desmoulins, Dr. Benjamin Rush, Tobias Lear, Talleyrand, Robespierre, Danton, Saint-Just, Abigail Adams, Lafayette, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Dr. Joseph Priestley, Samuel Adams, Philip Mazzei, John Marshall, Alexander Hamilton, and Edward Coles. They are brought to life by Mallock's insightful analysis and clear and lively writing.

Agony and Eloquence is a thoroughly researched and tautly written modern history. When the most important thing is at stake, almost anything can be justified.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2016 Daniel L. Mallock (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Interesting but disjointed look

An interesting, if disjointed, look at the Adams/Jefferson relationship primarily through the lens of the French Revolution.

After going several years without communicating and after both having mostly retired from public life, Adams and Jefferson (through the help of mutual friend Benjamin Rush) began an exchange of letters that rekindled their Revolutionary friendship. Regrettably, Mallock's 2016 "Agony and Eloquence" doesn't do much with the actual correspondence between the two men, instead spending most of the book talking around it. It's more of a "here's what was going on while they were writing each other."

Learning about other epistolary battles that Jefferson and Adams had with others is fine and good, and the extended section on how Rush managed to get the pair to begin communicating again is quite interesting, but overall, for a book supposedly about the back and forth between two Founding Fathers, there's proportionally very little back and forth present.

Great Listen

Enlightening history and very well read! I learned much about the French Revolution’s influence on our young country.

A poor attempt at pro-Jefferson propaganda

The author makes every attempt to explain away Jefferson's more radical views and actions, and his temporarily bitter relationship with John Adams. This generally consists of looking at the actual action or words, and then deducing strange reasons as to why the facts can't be what they seem to be.

Why not simply examine why Jefferson said and did what he did, and compare his words and actions with each other. That would have been a much more balanced, interesting study.

The reality is, Jefferson said and did some morally repugnant things. He also said and did some amazing things. Painting that complex picture should be the goal, not painting over the darker hues.