Revolutionaries: Inventing an American Nation

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A brilliant and original new history of the American Revolution, told through the lives and minds of the men who led it, doing for the United States what Linda Colley's ground-breaking Britons did for our own country. In this remarkable book, Jack Rakove offers a new and revealing perspective on the men who shaped the idea of an American nation. Each portrait brims with fresh and fascinating insights- Washington as a flawed tactician but expert manager; Jack Laurens as a slave trader's son who developed a plan to recruit black soldiers; Jefferson as a powerful critic of Europe's social order but a voracious consumer of its culture. Spanning the most crucial decades of the country's birth, 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. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Original Meanings- Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution.

Reviews

Jack Rakove's book is a superb account of the forces that turned the colonists from loyal subjects into revolutionaries... A first-rate read -- Simon Shaw * Daily Mail *
A mighty book... Compelling... Energetic, often eloquent, and spotted with dashes of wry humour. His characterisation of these complex, revolutionary men brings them vividly to life and the analysis of the unprecedented historic circumstances in which they found themselves is definitive. The book is indispensible to understanding the whys and hows of the creation of the United States * Literary Review *
Rakov writes beautifully. His prose is crisp and clear... Anyone seeking a readable and well-written guide to the process whereby the rebel colonies became the United States need look no further than Rakove's impressive book -- Stephen Conway * BBC History Magazine *
Deeply researched and elegantly written, this book marks a milestone in the study of America's revolutionary period. It should not be missed -- Annette Gordon-Reed, author of The Hemingses of Monticello
Brilliant...By using some marvelous vignettes and beautifully crafted portraits of the principal characters as a means of exploring the crucial issues of the Revolutionary era, [Rakove] has written a remarkable work of history -- Gordon S. Wood

Author Bio

Jack Rakove is Professor of History and American Studies at Stanford University and one of the most distinguished historians of the early American republic. He is the author of, among other books, Original Meanings- Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution, which won the Pulitzer Prize in History in 1997. He frequently writes op-ed articles for the New York Times, the Washington Post and other major newspapers.