A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic by John Ferling.
Oxford University Press, 2003
488 pages, plus abbreviations, Notes, and Index. A handful of illustrations scattered throughout the book.
Library: 973.3 FER
Description
In A Leap in the Dark, John Ferling offers ...(library put a barcode over it!) 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, we meet GEorge WAshington when he was a shrewd planter-businessman who discovered personal economic advantages in American iddependence. Here, too, is all the erratic brilliance of Hamilton and Jefferson battling to shape the new ntion. John Ferling has shown himself to be an insightful historian of our Revolution, and an unusually skilful writer. A Leap in the Dark is his masterpiece, a work that provokes, enlightens and entertains in full measure.
Table of Contents
List of illustrations and maps
Preface
1. 1754-1763: "Join or Die"
2. 1763-1766: "A loss of respect and affection"
3. 1766-1770: "To crush the spirit of the colonies"
4. 1770-1774: "The Cause of Boston is now the cause of America"
5. 1775 - 1777: "To Die Freemen Rather than to live slaves"
6. 1776-1777: "A leap in the dark"
7. 1778-1782: "This wilderness of darkness and dangers"
8. 1783-1787: "The present paroxysm of our affairs"
9. 1787-1789: "So much unanimity and good will"
10. 1790-1793: "Prosperous at home, respectable abroad"
11. 1793-1796: "A colossus to the Anti-Republican Party"
12. 1797-1801: "The gigg is up"
14. 1801: "An age of revolution and reformation"
Abbreviations
Notes
Index
