Revolutionaries
A New History of the Invention of America
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Narrated by:
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Bronson Pinchot
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By:
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Jack Rakove
About this listen
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.
©2010 Jack Rakove (P)2010 Blackstone AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
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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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American Sphinx
- The Character of Thomas Jefferson
- By: Joseph J. Ellis
- Narrated by: Susan O'Malley
- Length: 15 hrs
- Unabridged
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For a man who insisted that life on the public stage was not what he had in mind, Thomas Jefferson certainly spent a great deal of time in the spotlight. Historian Joseph J. Ellis sifts the facts shrewdly from the legends and the rumors, treading a path between vilification and hero worship in order to formulate a plausible portrait of the man who still today "hover[s] over the political scene like one of those dirigibles cruising above a crowded football stadium, flashing words of inspiration to both teams".
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Jefferson, As Seen By Big Government
- By FredZarguna on 06-01-23
By: Joseph J. Ellis
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The Lost Founding Father
- John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics
- By: William J. Cooper
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Why has John Quincy Adams been largely written out of American history when he is, in fact, our lost Founding Father? Overshadowed by both his brilliant father and the brash and bold Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams has long been dismissed as hyper-intellectual. Viciously assailed by Jackson and his populist mobs for being both slippery and effete, Adams nevertheless recovered from the malodorous 1828 presidential election to lead the nation as a lonely Massachusetts congressman in the fight against slavery.
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Edifying
- By Jean on 01-15-18
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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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A Decent Overview of Polk's Presidency
- By James on 06-20-10
By: Robert W. Merry
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John Quincy Adams
- American Visionary
- By: Fred Kaplan
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 27 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In this fresh and lively biography rich in literary analysis and new historical detail, Fred Kaplan brings into focus the dramatic life of John Quincy Adams - the little known and much misunderstood sixth president of the United States and the first son of John and Abigail Adams - and persuasively demonstrates how Adams's inspiring, progressive vision guided his life and helped shape the course of America.
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Destined by birth, mentored by greats...
- By Jonathan Love on 03-04-16
By: Fred Kaplan
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Thomas Jefferson
- By: R. B. Bernstein
- Narrated by: Phil Holland
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Thomas Jefferson designed his own tombstone, describing himself simply as "Author of the Declaration of Independence and of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia". It is in this simple epitaph that R. B. Bernstein finds the key to this enigmatic Founder - not as a great political figure, but as leader of "a revolution of ideas that would make the world over again". In Thomas Jefferson, Bernstein offers the definitive short biography of this revered American - the first concise life in six decades. Bernstein deftly synthesizes the massive scholarship on his subject into a swift, insightful, evenhanded account.
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In-Depth and Interesting
- By Sarahi Nieves on 04-24-19
By: R. B. Bernstein
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Washington's Farewell
- The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations
- By: John Avlon
- Narrated by: John Avlon
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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George Washington's Farewell Address was a prophetic letter from a "parting friend" to his fellow citizens about the forces he feared could destroy our democracy: hyper-partisanship, excessive debt, and foreign wars. Once celebrated as civic scripture, more widely reprinted than the Declaration of Independence, the Farewell Address is now almost forgotten. Its message remains starkly relevant. In Washington's Farewell, John Avlon offers a stunning portrait of our first president and his battle to save America from self-destruction.
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Very well written and performed
- By Michael Reading on 03-02-17
By: John Avlon
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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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The Problem of Democracy
- The Presidents Adams Confront the Cult of Personality
- By: Nancy Isenberg, Andrew Burstein
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 22 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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John and John Quincy Adams: rogue intellectuals, unsparing truth-tellers, too uncensored for their own political good. They held that political participation demanded moral courage. They did not seek popularity (it showed). They lamented the fact that hero worship in America substituted idolatry for results; and they made it clear that they were talking about Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson. When John Adams succeeded George Washington as President, his son had already followed him into public service and was stationed in Europe as a diplomat.
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Very insightful and rewarding adding understanding
- By William on 05-12-19
By: Nancy Isenberg, and others
What listeners say about Revolutionaries
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Roger
- 02-18-11
Good intellectual history
This is a panoramic and incisive work. It deftly explores the varied and surprising intellectual developments of several different leaders of the Revolutionary era--men from different sections and different backgrounds and with differing outlooks. Rakove develops his arguments elegantly and convincingly. He integrates his arguments with developments of the era, explaining how events helped shape his subjects’ intellectual developments. He does not, however, integrate such developments with the broader political currents. Rakove analyzes how his subjects’ intellectual developments helped cause their actions and reactions to events, but he does not evaluate how representative his subjects’ thinking were. Therefore, he cannot analyze how much such intellectual developments helped shape such events. Rakove is such a good historian, and the analysis he did is so compelling, that I finished the book wishing he’d tackled those two questions.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Kent Abbott
- 02-28-21
Hamilton +
A worthy companion to Chernow’s Hamilton bio. Obviously, it doesn’t go into the same detail and depth as a full length of book devoted to Hamilton‘s life might, but this contains details of those incidents that make up Hamilton’s life which aren’t available in Chernow’s. It seems that Miranda even cribbed some phrases from this tome for his musical. Additionally, it goes into many interesting details in fact from the other founding fathers lives as well. Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Washington all get new illumination into their lives. The audiobook narrated by Bronson Pinchot is very well performed. In fact, I had a hard time being convinced that the same person narrating this book is the person who performed Balki on the TV sitcom. Check it out.
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- Robert L.
- 12-16-19
Not Deeply Revelatory
Expert performance by Pinchot but the substance wasn’t necessarily new when compared to other deeper historical investigations on the exact same topics. Some of the anecdotes were seemingly uncommon (ie not commonly found in other analogous histories) and did enhance the story and my knowledge of the subjects but again anecdotal.
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- Alexander
- 06-06-18
Great book
I really enjoyed reading an in-depth perspective on the founders of the country imperfections and all. Very well research and a book worth hearing twice to gather all that is heard. The narrator was also fantastic and used great pronunciation of the French words.
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- KT
- 01-11-12
Way Too Long, Disorganized, and Unselective
What disappointed you about Revolutionaries?
The author wastes way too much time on a number of historically minor characters, with the usual major historical figures absent for long stretches of time. His narrative is disorganized, with much jumping from one character to another, and back and forth in time. Finally, his language is excessively complex and wordy; if something can be described in five simple words, he will use fifty complex ones, with one or two French ones thrown in for good measure (although this does give Bronson Pinchot a chance to show off his impressive French accent).
This book is like an early draft of an extremely ambitious PhD thesis. Maybe after some serious trimming, focusing, and rewriting, it would actually be enjoyable. But until then, stay away. It was pure torture.
What do you think your next listen will be?
George Washington
Would you listen to another book narrated by Bronson Pinchot?
Sure. He's come a long way from Serge and Balky.
What character would you cut from Revolutionaries?
All but the major historical ones (Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, etc)
Any additional comments?
I listened to this book right after finishing
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- NK
- 10-16-13
Tried but could not get into it
The topic is handled much better in other books I have listened to. I also had trouble with the narration. I gave it a couple of stars as I did learn some new items on the topic.
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