Revolutionaries : a new history of the invention of America

In the early 1770s, the men who invented America were living quiet, provincial lives in the rustic backwaters of the New World, devoted primarily to family, craft, and the private pursuit of wealth and happiness. None set out to become ''revolutionary'' by ambition, but when events in Boston escalated, they found themselves thrust into a crisis that moved, in a matter of months, from protest to war. In this remarkable book, historian Jack Rakove shows how the private lives of these men were suddenly transformed into public careers -- how Washington became a strategist, Franklin a pioneering cultural diplomat, Madison a sophisticated constitutional thinker, and Hamilton a brilliant policymaker. Rakove shakes off accepted notions of these men as godlike visionaries, focusing instead on the evolution of their ideas and the crystallizing of their purpose. In __Revolutionaries__, we see the founders before they were fully formed leaders, as individuals whose lives were radically altered by the explosive events of the mid-1770s. They were ordinary men who became extraordinary -- a transformation that finally has the literary treatment it deserves. Spanning the two crucial decades of the country's birth, from 1773 to 1792, __Revolutionaries__ uses little-known stories of these famous (and not so famous) men to capture -- in a way no single biography ever could -- the intensely creative period of the republic's founding. From the Boston Tea Party to the First Continental Congress, from Trenton to Valley Forge, from the ratification of the Constitution to the disputes that led to our two-party system, Rakove explores the competing views of politics, war, diplomacy, and society that shaped our nation. Thoughtful, clear-minded, and persuasive, __Revolutionaries__ is a majestic blend of narrative and intellectual history, one of those rare books that makes us think afresh about how the country came to be, and why the idea of America endures. In this remarkable and elegantly written book, the Pulitzer Prizewinning historian Jack Rakove offers a new and revealing perspective on Americas revolutionaries. In his hands, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Washington, and Hamilton were not pitchfork-wielding radicals or relentless power seekers. They started out as men of property and private affairs, tending to careers and families, making their way in a deeply provincial world. But when events in Massachusetts escalated out of control after the Boston Tea Party, they were swept up in the crisis, their private lives suddenly transformed into public careers. Rakove shows us how reluctant the revolutionaries were and what that meant for the founding of the Republic. Each of his portraits brims with fascinating and fresh insights: Washington as a flawed tactician but charismatic leader, Jack Laurens as a slave traders son who developed a plan to recruit black soldiers, Madison as a constitution maker with a broad and compelling vision of a new government. Rakove uses the stories of these famous (and not so famous) men to show how their views of politics, war, diplomacy, and society shaped the emerging idea of an American nation. With a finely tuned blend of narrative and analysis, he gives us a provocative new interpretation of the Revolution and its aftermath. Thoughtful, clear-minded, and persuasive, this is narrative and intellectual history of the highest order.

in The Early 1770s, The Men Who Invented America Were Living Quiet, Provincial Lives In The Rustic Backwaters Of The New World, Devoted Primarily To Family, Craft, And The ...

the Washington Post - Jan Ellen Lewis

rakove's Attentiveness To The Founders' Foibles Humanizes Them At The Same Time That It Underscores Their Collective Achievement. No One Revolutionary Got Everything Right, But Together They Carried The American Colonies From Resistance To Revolution, Held Their Own Against The Premier Imperial Power Of The Day, And Then Capped Their Visionary Experiment By Framing A Constitution Whose Origins And Interpretation Still Preoccupy Us Over Two Centuries Later. Although Scholars Will Find Little New In Rakove's Book, He Tells His Story Well, With A Madisonian Appreciation For Human Frailty.

In this remarkable book, the historian Jack Rakove shows how the private lives of these men were suddenly transformed into public careers--how Washington became a strategist, Franklin a pioneering cultural diplomat, Madison a sophisticated constitutional thinker, and Hamilton a brilliant policymaker. Rakove shakes off accepted notions of these men as godlike visionaries, focusing instead on the evolution of their ideas and the crystallizing of their purpose. In Revolutionaries, we see the founders before they were fully formed leaders, as individuals whose lives were radically altered by the explosive events of the mid-1770s. --from publisher description "Jack Rakove offers a new and revealing perspective on the men who invented America. Much has been written about the military struggle that led to independence, but Rakove is far more concerned with the intellectual one: the competing views of politics, war, diplomacy and society that shaped the very idea of an American nation. Spanning the most crucial decades of the country's birth, from 1772 to 1792, Revolutionaries uses the stories of famous (and not so famous) men to capture - in a way no single biography ever could - the intensely creative period of the republic's founding"--Jacket. Prologue: the world beyond Worcester Part I: The crisis Advocates for the cause The revolt of the moderates The character of a general Part II: Challenges The first constitution makers Vain liberators The diplomats Part III: Legacies The optimist abroad The greatest lawgiver of modernity The state builder.