| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 88.2

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 88.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution. By John Ferling. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. xxx, 392 pp. $30.00, ISBN 0-19-513409-5.)

John Ferling, with more courage than many of us can summon, challenges the tendency among modern scholars to emphasize the "underside" of American history. Instead of discovering something new about Benjamin Franklin or Samuel Adams, today's reader of a scholarly journal "is more likely to read of the plight of urban chimney sweeps or unwed mothers." While conceding that those kinds of investigation add to our understanding, Ferling considers them unexciting and apt to put off students and casual readers. As a result, he has chosen three "dead white men" in an effort to reemphasize the importance of leadership in the outcome of the main events of the American Revolution. . . .

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