Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson and the American Revolution - Hardcover

"[Setting the World Ablaze is] an interesting volume that deftly unites the biographies of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson through the American Revolution...powerful and fascinating...an immensely readable, well-reasearched volume that emphasizes the importance of individual choice and personal aspiration in the unfolding of a great historical event." --Frank A. Cassell, History "A major work, resting on formidable and impeccable scholarship. It tells a fascinating story of a crucial chapter in American history, and brings that story to life through the experiences of three unquestioned giants of the era. Ferling shows that John Adams is perhaps the most under-appreciated hero of the American Revolution, and brings Washington down from Mount Rushmore as a great but human figure."--Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson and Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams "John Ferling places Jefferson, Adams and Washington--the bard, the workhorse, and the leader of men--in relation to the Revolution and to each other. Jefferson is down, Adams is up, Washington remains first in war, and Ferling is a clear winner for sweep and instruction."--Richard Brookhiser, author of Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, American "[Setting the World Ablaze is] an interesting volume that deftly unites the biographies of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson through the American Revolution...powerful and fascinating...an immensely readable, well-reasearched volume that emphasizes the importance of individual choice and personal aspiration in the unfolding of a great historical event." --Frank A. Cassell, History "A major work, resting on formidable and impeccable scholarship. It tells a fascinating story of a crucial chapter in American history, and brings that story to life through the experiences of three unquestioned giants of the era. Ferling shows that John Adams is perhaps the most under-appreciated hero of the American Revolution, and brings Washington down from Mount Rushmore as a great but human figure."--Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson and Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams "John Ferling places Jefferson, Adams and Washington--the bard, the workhorse, and the leader of men--in relation to the Revolution and to each other. Jefferson is down, Adams is up, Washington remains first in war, and Ferling is a clear winner for sweep and instruction."--Richard Brookhiser, author of Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, American "[Setting the World Ablaze is] an interesting volume that deftly unites the biographies of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson through the American Revolution...powerful and fascinating...an immensely readable, well-reasearched volume that emphasizes the importance of individual choice and personal aspiration in the unfolding of a great historical event." --Frank A. Cassell, History "A major work, resting on formidable and impeccable scholarship. It tells a fascinating story of a crucial chapter in American history, and brings that story to life through the experiences of three unquestioned giants of the era. Ferling shows that John Adams is perhaps the most under-appreciated hero of the American Revolution, and brings Washington down from Mount Rushmore as a great but human figure."--Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson and Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams "John Ferling places Jefferson, Adams and Washington--the bard, the workhorse, and the leader of men--in relation to the Revolution and to each other. Jefferson is down, Adams is up, Washington remains first in war, and Ferling is a clear winner for sweep and instruction."--Richard Brookhiser, author of Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, American "[Setting the World Ablaze is] an interesting volume that deftly unites the biographies of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson through the American Revolution...powerful and fascinating...an immensely readable, well-reasearched volume that emphasizes the importance of individual choice and personal aspiration in the unfolding of a great historical event." --Frank A. Cassell, History "A major work, resting on formidable and impeccable scholarship. It tells a fascinating story of a crucial chapter in American history, and brings that story to life through the experiences of three unquestioned giants of the era. Ferling shows that John Adams is perhaps the most under-appreciated hero of the American Revolution, and brings Washington down from Mount Rushmore as a great but human figure."--Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson and Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams "John Ferling places Jefferson, Adams and Washington--the bard, the workhorse, and the leader of men--in relation to the Revolution and to each other. Jefferson is down, Adams is up, Washington remains first in war, and Ferling is a clear winner for sweep and instruction."--Richard Brookhiser, author of Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, American " Setting the World Ablaze is an interesting volume that deftly unites the biographies of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson through the American Revolution...powerful and fascinating...an immensely readable, well-reasearched volume that emphasizes the importance of individual choice and personal aspiration in the unfolding of a great historical event." --Frank A. Cassell, History "A major work, resting on formidable and impeccable scholarship. It tells a fascinating story of a crucial chapter in American history, and brings that story to life through the experiences of three unquestioned giants of the era. Ferling shows that John Adams is perhaps the most under-appreciated hero of the American Revolution, and brings Washington down from Mount Rushmore as a great but human figure."--Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson and Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams "John Ferling places Jefferson, Adams and Washington--the bard, the workhorse, and the leader of men--in relation to the Revolution and to each other. Jefferson is down, Adams is up, Washington remains first in war, and Ferling is a clear winner for sweep and instruction."--Richard Brookhiser, author of Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, American

This work is the story of the three men who, perhaps more than any others, helped bring the United States into being: George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Braiding three strands into one narrative, Ferling brings these American icons down from their pedestals to show them as men of flesh and blood, and gives us a new understanding of the passion and uncertainty of the struggle to form a new nation. A leading historian of the Revolutionary era, Ferling combines a use of the primary sources with swiftly moving narrative to give us intimate views of each of these men. Ferling shows us the overarching historical picture of the era and provides a sense of how these men encounterd the challenges that faced them. At close quarters, we see Washington, containing a profound anger at British injustice within an austere demeanour; Adams, far from home, struggling with severe illness and French duplicity in his crucial negotiations in Paris; and Jefferson, distracted and indecisive, confronting uncertainties about his future in politics.