SKU: 3755070714

A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic

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A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American RepublicIt 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

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.


Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 10/28/2004
ISBN: 9780195176001
Pages: 558
Weight: 2.15lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.00w x 1.40d
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SKU: 3755070714

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kimosabi
Pawtucket, US
★★★★★ 5
Great book!
Format: Paperback
Great book, very informative
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Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2017
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Reader
Louisville, US
★★★★★ 5
Excellent Handbook!
Format: Paperback
This is a great book for anyone from beginner to seasoned activist. Kazu Haga breaks down Kingian Nonviolence and other justice and healing modalities in a way that makes them very accessible to a wide array of readers. I plan to give this to several elder activists - and my 14 year old niece. Haga breaks down the Six Principles of Kingian Nonviolence, Restorative Justice/Practices (RP), separates & defines four types of conflict as well as other clarifying enumerations of large concepts. As an RP practitioner, I found his handling of restorative work to be excellent, and I found the Kingian principles revelatory and beautiful. Kingian Nonviolence dispels the myth that nonviolence is passivity "Nonviolence is not about what not to do. It is about what you are going to do", and has clear steps toward justice and conflict work that have proven efficacy. Haga's handling of nuance and contradiction is unique and powerful, as well as his personal approach to understanding alternate perspectives (listening to right wing radio on regular basis - with an open mind -for instance). More than one thing can be true at the same time, we can expand to hold contradiction, and still seek accountability and healing. The clarity of why shaming and punishment doesn't work for preventing future harm, or healing harm that has occurred is present not only in the concepts in the book, but his personal experience via years of offering trainings in prisons. There is still a lot of resistance to RP and nonviolent approaches to harm - especially in Law Enforcement and Corrections, and I think the accessibility and clarity in this book are useful to help naysayers possibly see the light of why these healing and justice practices ultimately protect us all.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2020
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Pmcd772
Grantham, US
★★★★★ 5
This is the one
Format: Paperback
If you read one book this year about how to deal with conflict, this is the one. His language is crisp, his examples simple to understand, his reasoning is easy to follow. Best of all, he interprets Dr. King's Philosophy of Nonviolence through his own, hard-won experience with organizing in Oakland, CA, Occupy Wall Street and myriad other struggles. All that experience has taught him that Dr. King was right to focus on relationship building. Kazu asks the hard questions, toughs out the answers, learns from myriad mistakes and shares his hard-won lessons with us. He also references some great resources. I gave this book 5 stars. Normally I would have awarded 4 stars, because there are some typos sprinkled throughout the book. However, I added back that star because the book is so very well-written, absolutely authentic to the Kingian Nonviolence curriculum, and urgently useful NOW. Kingian Nonviolence (not non-violence) is more useful and effective than any other strategy, for the long-term, and often for the short term as well. Let's build this world of Beloved Community. Thank you Kazu, Dr. Lafayette, and Dr. King, for giving us a head start.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2020
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Bel
Bozeman, US
★★★★★ 5
The Inner Game of World Changing
Format: Kindle
This book bridges the gap between activism and spirituality, making the argument that the world will never change for the better in a lasting way without both working together. Yes, the systems of injustice must be dismantled, but it will be impossible to build new systems that work for all without the inner foundations spelled out in this book. Yes, we need to love one another, but we also need to deal with the material realities of injustice and oppression. Without the principles laid out in this book, we are left with a toxic culture of shaming and ineffectual anger on the side of the activists and a loving but disconnected-from-reality culture on the side of the spiritual while the violence-fueled industrial-growth complex goes on wreaking its destruction. If you despair of things ever changing for the better, read this book. It's THE way forward.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2020
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SillyAmy
Pawtucket, US
★★★★★ 5
Transformative
Format: Paperback
The most beautiful book I’ve ever read. The book I needed to heal a heart broken by the horrors of injustice. The world would be a kinder place if everyone read this book.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2024

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