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A Leap in the Dark
- The Struggle to Create the American Republic
- Narrated by: Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff
- Length: 23 hrs and 50 mins
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Publisher's Summary
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.
What listeners say about A Leap in the Dark
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Richard
- 03-03-15
Loved every minute!
Beautiful narrative, great writing, elucidating and entertaining!!
I have enjoyed Ferling's work before and he does not disappoint. Get it!
4 people found this helpful
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- E. Holmes
- 01-31-22
Decent book, poor narration.
Decent story but narration is distracting due to mispronunciations, awkward pauses and clumsy inflections.
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- Kindle Customer
- 01-31-21
The Founding with a light focus on economics.
Ferling's "A Leap in the Dark" is a well-researched and well-written general history of the pre-Revolutionary era up to the election of 1800. It's structured chronologically with each chapter covering a couple years with mini-biographies of all the major (and some minor) players.
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.
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- VA Basso
- 10-31-19
Detailed history of American Revolution and after.
Great story, told to give an understanding of the precursors to revolution and the aftermath of revolution. Good reading by narrator, shows that the nation is not in a unique place, but a place we have been before.
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-24-19
Narrator needs to bone up
Excellent book and I recommend it. The narrator has a very peasant voice to listen to,
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
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- Scarlett Standridge
- 01-01-18
Very disappointed
Don't be fooled to believe you have a free book download during your 30 day Trail because if you're like me who likes to read along with the narrator of the book you will be asked to purchase the Kindle eBook prescription. My mother used this 30 day trial before and she was able to download and listen to narrator while reading along with the narrator in two of her books she got free with the same 30 day free trail promotion, but unfortunately it did not happen with me. I will never use this company again. I tried calling this company two times and got hung up on both times and I talked to six different tech people to help figure out why I couldn't read along with the narrator of the book I downloaded for free - to finally was told it was because I didn't purchase the Kindle Ebook.
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Story
Short, plain, balding, neither soldier nor orator, low on charisma and high on intelligence, Madison cared more about achieving results than taking the credit. To reach his lifelong goal of a self-governing constitutional republic, he blended his talents with those of key partners. It was Madison who led the drive for the Constitutional Convention and pressed for an effective new government as his patron George Washington lent the effort legitimacy.
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Excellent history of our nation's founding
- By JJay on 02-23-15
By: David Stewart
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A Country of Vast Designs
- James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent
- By: Robert W. Merry
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 18 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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When James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, the United States was locked in a bitter diplomatic struggle with Britain over the rich lands of the Oregon Territory, which included what is now Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Texas, not yet part of the Union, was threatened by a more powerful Mexico. And the territories north and west of Texas---what would become California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado---belonged to Mexico.
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History Repeats
- By Todd Gangl Usnik on 06-12-12
By: Robert W. Merry
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The Birth of Modern Politics
- Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and the Election of 1828
- By: Lynn Hudson Parson
- Narrated by: Milton Bagby
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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The 1828 presidential election, which pitted Major General Andrew Jackson against incumbent John Quincy Adams, has long been hailed as a watershed moment in American political history. It was the contest in which an unlettered, hot-tempered southwestern frontiersman, trumpeted by his supporters as a genuine man of the people, soundly defeated a New England "aristocrat" whose education and political resume were as impressive as any ever seen in American public life.
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a very good popular history book
- By D. Littman on 01-29-10
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'Mr. President'
- George Washington and the Making of the Nation's Highest Office
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Although the framers gave the president little authority, Washington knew whatever he did would set precedents for generations of his successors. To ensure their ability to defend the nation, he simply ignored the Constitution when he thought it necessary and reshaped the presidency into what James Madison called a "monarchical presidency." Modern scholars call it the "imperial presidency."
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A political genius
- By Michael on 03-28-17
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Founding Rivals
- Madison vs. Monroe, the Bill of Rights, and the Election that Saved a Nation
- By: Chris DeRose
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1789, James Madison and James Monroe ran against each other for Congress-the only time that two future presidents have contested a congressional seat. But what was at stake, as author Chris DeRose reveals in Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, the Bill of Rights, and the Election That Saved a Nation, was more than personal ambition. This was a race that determined the future of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the very definition of the United States of America.
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A Must for Anyone Interested in the Constitution
- By Garshom L. Arkoff on 07-09-13
By: Chris DeRose
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The Three Lives of James Madison
- Genius, Partisan, President
- By: Noah Feldman
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 34 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Over the course of his life, James Madison changed the United States three times: First, he designed the Constitution, led the struggle for its adoption and ratification, then drafted the Bill of Rights. As an older, cannier politician, he cofounded the original Republican party, setting the course of American political partisanship. Finally, having pioneered a foreign policy based on economic sanctions, he took the United States into a high-risk conflict, becoming the first wartime president and, despite the odds, winning.
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Cogently organized, meticulously balanced
- By Diana Black Kennedy on 06-15-18
By: Noah Feldman
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The Return of George Washington: 1783-1789
- By: Edward Larson
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Although Washington is often overlooked in most accounts of the period, this masterful new history from Pulitzer Prize winner Edward J. Larson brilliantly uncovers Washington's vital role in shaping the Convention - and shows how it was only with Washington’s support and his willingness to serve as President that the states were brought together and ratified the Constitution, thereby saving the country.
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A readable history
- By Jean on 10-21-14
By: Edward Larson
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American Heritage History of the Presidents
- By: Michael R. Beschloss
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 25 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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From George Washington's reluctant oath-taking through George W. Bush's leadership challenges after September 11, 2001, we view ambitious and fallible men through the new lens of the 21st century. Where did they succeed? Where did they fail? And what do we know now that we could not have known at the time?
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Good top-level summary of presidents
- By Mary E Bailey on 05-20-18
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The Summer of 1787
- By: David O Stewart
- Narrated by: George Wilson
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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David O. Stewart presents this well-researched account of the U.S. Constitution's creation not as a dry analysis of events, but as a high-powered narrative filled with dramatic intensity and larger-than-life historical figures.
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Very well done!
- By Alan on 04-20-17
By: David O Stewart
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James Madison
- A Life Reconsidered
- By: Lynne Cheney
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss
- Length: 18 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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A major new biography of the fourth US president, from New York Times best-selling author Lynne Cheney. James Madison was a true genius of the early republic, the leader who did more than any other to create the nation we know today. This majestic new biography tells his story. Outwardly reserved, Madison was the intellectual driving force behind the Constitution. His visionary political philosophy was a crucial factor behind the Constitution’s ratification, and his political savvy was of major importance in getting the new government underway.
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Nice history of the early national period
- By Teresa on 06-12-14
By: Lynne Cheney
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The Great Divide
- The Conflict Between Washington and Jefferson That Defined a Nation
- By: Thomas Fleming
- Narrated by: David Rapkin
- Length: 16 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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History tends to cast the early years of America in a glow of camaraderie when there were, in fact, many conflicts between the Founding Fathers - none more important than the one between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Their disagreement centered on the highest, most original public office created by the Constitutional Convention: the presidency. It also involved the nation's foreign policy, the role of merchants and farmers in a republic, and the durability of the union.