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Title: Agony and Eloquence
Subtitle: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and a World of Revolution
Author: Daniel L. Mallock
Narrator: Jonathan Yen
Format: Unabridged
Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
Language: English
Release date: 02-10-16
Publisher: Audible Studios
Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 10 votes
Genres: History, American
Publisher's Summary:
The drama of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson is the foundational story of America - courage, loyalty, hope, fanaticism, greatness, failure, forgiveness, love. Agony and Eloquence is the story of the greatest friendship in American history and the revolutionary times in which it was made, ruined, and finally renewed.
In the wake of Washington's retirement, longtime friends Thomas Jefferson and John Adams came to represent the opposing political forces struggling to shape America's future. Adams' victory in the presidential election of 1796 brought Jefferson into his administration - but as an unlikely and deeply conflicted vice president. The bloody Republican revolution in France finally brought their political differences to a bitter pitch.
In Mallock's take on this fascinating period, French foreign policy and revolutionary developments - from the fall of the Bastille to the fall of the Jacobins and the rise of Napoleon - form a disturbing and illuminating counterpoint to events, controversies, individuals, and relationships in Philadelphia and Washington. Many important and fascinating people appear in the book, including Thomas Paine, Camille Desmoulins, Dr. Benjamin Rush, Tobias Lear, Talleyrand, Robespierre, Danton, Saint-Just, Abigail Adams, Lafayette, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Dr. Joseph Priestley, Samuel Adams, Philip Mazzei, John Marshall, Alexander Hamilton, and Edward Coles. They are brought to life by Mallock's insightful analysis and clear and lively writing.
Agony and Eloquence is a thoroughly researched and tautly written modern history. When the most important thing is at stake, almost anything can be justified.
Members Reviews:
Great minds (sometimes) think alike
In Agony and Eloquence Daniel Mallock illuminates the decades-long relationship between two of our founding fathers, one that would rise and fall in its friendship but never in its mutual respect. He provides context for their political and societal disagreements by providing essential descriptions of the world in transition in which they lived. One might expect Mr. Mallock to favor Mr. Adams in his critique as they are both natives of Quincy, yet his approach is even-handed, showing the finery and faults of each of these great men. This book is quite an accomplishment, and I look forward to the author's next endeavor.
Rise, fall, and rebirth of friendship between two revolutionary titans
The focus of this book is the friendship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the decline of that friendship, and its recurrence due to the efforts of Dr. Benjamin Rush after Jefferson's presidency ended.The book reads well and is to the point. Other books, of course, have dealt, in one way or another, with the friendship explored here.
But that is the focus of this work--not one part of a longer work on Jefferson or Adams. They came to know one another as the colonies' relationship with British Empire began to worsen dramatically. They worked together in the Continental Congress and served on the committee to draft a rationale for breaking ties with the Empire and declaring independence.
Their friendship deepened as they served abroad in a diplomatic assignment. Too, Abigail Adams, John's wife, became friends with Jefferson--who reciprocated. However, as the book details, politics undid the friendship.
