The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World, 1788-1800 | 
 enlarge | Author: Jay Winik
Publisher: Harper
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $7.49
You Save: $22.46 (75%)
New (33) Used (27) Collectible (2) from $7.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  42 reviews
Sales Rank: 48674
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 688
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 2.1
ISBN: 0060083131
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.4
EAN: 9780060083137
ASIN: 0060083131
Publication Date: September 11, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Book HAS remainder mark. It is NEW, but has some shelf wear. Dust jacket has mild creasing around the edges of the spine and corners.
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Book Description
Fresh and brilliant, this is the book that completely redefines the founding era. As the 1790s began, America was struggling to survive at home and abroad, and the world was gripped by an arc of revolutionary fervor stretching from Philadelphia and Paris to St. Petersburg and Cairo--with fatal results. While a fragile United States teetered on the brink of oblivion, Russia towered as a vast imperial power, the Islamic peoples were gearing for war, and France plunged into monumental revolution. In The Great Upheaval, acclaimed historian Jay Winik masterfully illuminates how their fates combined in one extraordinary moment to change the course of civilization and bequeath us the nation--indeed, the world--we've inherited. Below we see a brief taste of the incredible events and people who shaped this most memorable of decades. A Timeline of The Great Upheaval | 1787 | | George Washington and the founders gather in Philadelphia to create the Constitution. Meanwhile, Russia's Empress Catherine the Great prepares her bloody assault on the Islamic Ottoman Empire, thus unleashing the first modern holy war between Islam and Christianity. | | 1789 | | When the Bastille falls, it is a sound heard around the world: George Washington is sent the key to the fortress, while upon the hearing the news, Russians dance in the streets. King Louis XVI asks, "Is this a revolt?" and is told, "No sire, it's a revolution." | | 1791-92 | | Having helped midwife the American rebels to independence, an outraged Catherine seeks to stamp out the French Revolutionary menace. Undaunted, a radicalized France soon declares, "war on the castles, peace on the cottages," triggering a savage world war that lasts 21 years and costs millions of lives. | | |  | | President George Washington | | | 1793 | | George Washington receives Revolutionary France's new envoy, Citizen Genet, who audaciously seeks to foment insurrection at America's borders, pitting American against American.
An ocean away, the French king, who had been America's staunchest ally, is beheaded. | | 1794 | | The Whiskey Rebellion begins, threatening civil war in America. To Washington's chagrin, as the Terror heats up in France, the Whiskey Rebels in Pennsylvania carry mock guillotines, shoot up likenesses of George Washington, and threaten to march on Philadelphia. Washington frantically assembles a force larger than used at Yorktown. | | |  | | The excecution of King Louis XVI | | | 1795 | | Catherine's armies carve up the ancient kingdom of Poland, where the rebellion was led by a hero of the American revolution, Thaddeus Kosiusko, sending a dire signal to the infant American Republic about the perils of military weakness. | | 1797-98 | | As Napoleon's armies ominously devour Europe "leaf by leaf," president John Adams fears the young republic will be invaded next. With war fever gripping the country, the administration harshly represses civil liberties. | | 1800 | | In the most contested election in U.S. history, military forces are mobilized and the nation again hangs on the precipice of civil war. But unlike in France and Russia, America manages an unprecedented first--a peaceful transfer of power between antagonists, making Thomas Jefferson America's third president. | | |  | | Empress Catherine the Great | |
Product Description
It is an era that redefined history. As the 1790s began, a fragile America teetered on the brink of oblivion, Russia towered as a vast imperial power, and France plunged into revolution. But in contrast to the way conventional histories tell it, none of these remarkable events occurred in isolation. Now, for the first time, in The Great Upheaval, acclaimed historian Jay Winik masterfully illuminates how their fates combined in one extraordinary moment to change the course of civilization. In this sweeping, magisterial drama, Winik brings his vast, meticulous research and narrative genius to the cold, dark battlefields and deadly clashes of ideologies that defined this age. Here is a savage world war, the top-pling of a great dynasty, and an America struggling to survive at home and abroad. Here, too, is the first modern holy war between Islam and a resurgent Christian empire. And here is the richest cast of characters to walk upon the world stage: Washington and Jefferson, Louis XVI and Robespierre, Catherine the Great, Adams, Napoleon, and Selim III. With powerful echoes for understanding the international chaos that confronts the globe today, we see them all fighting desperately for the ideals they believed in, whether man-made democracy or divinely inspired autocracy, whether republicanism or Allah's law. Exquisitely written and utterly compelling, The Great Upheaval vividly depicts an arc of revolutionary fervor stretching from Philadelphia and Paris to St. Petersburg and Cairo—with fateful results. A landmark in historical literature, Winik's gripping, epic portrait of this tumultuous decade will forever transform the way we see America's beginnings and our world.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 37 more reviews...
 Great History Book! August 16, 2008
This book is one of the most enjoyable books you'll read about events during the American revolutionary period. I found the interwoven stories associated with events in France and Russia to be riveting. For those (like me) that were aware of the happenings in France and Russia, but were ignorant to the impact on the American revolution (like me), you'll really enjoy The Great Upheaval. For a history book that often reads like a novel, this book is for you!
A fine book with flaws July 30, 2008
I rather agree with the positive reviewers and the negative ones, though I feel the positive very much outweighs the negative. The writing is generally lively and vivid, there is an abundance of fascinating detail, and many famous scenes are brought to life. This is a comprehensive but comprehensible overview of a major turning point in world history. The innovation of passing back and forth among the U.S., France, and Russia to show their mutual impact offers great insight: John Paul Jones commanding the navy of Catherine the Great! Genet, The imperial French ambassor to Catherine joining the French revolution to become the notorious French ambassdor to the U.S. who tried to unseat George Washington! Talleyrand fleeing France to take refuge in the U.S., only to return to France and turn against America (demanding, among other things, a $250,000 bribe, and threatening the lives of the American negotiators, who included John Marshall, the great chief justice). Tom Paine barely escaping the guillotine in Paris! Winik is also vivid in describing the truly vicious infighting among the Founders after the adoption of the Constitution. Vicious slander--what the papers said about Washington!--was the order of the day. The revered Thomas Jefferson (vice president to John Adams) didn't hesitate to call in the French ambassador and advise him to tell the government in France to ignore Pres. Adams's peace overtures. (Thomas Jefferson, that great American hypocrite, committed what today would be considered treason!) This is all great stuff (and there's a lot more) to read about and very well told. But the book is marred by poor word choice, obvious errors, typos, and at various times, a complete loss of focus. Still for a lively introduction to a maelstrom of a period, you won't find a better, more readable introduction.
 A quick review July 25, 2008
Jay Winik is a colorful writer and makes turning pages easy. The historical accounts of 1788-1800 come to life through his depictions. The weakness in this book are the interjections of opinion (ie., the colonists PERCEIVED threat of tyranny from Britain) and biased fawning for autocrats (Catherine). He seems detached from the oppression of the masses and would probably be comfortable in a Versailles court living the "good life". Maybe he should take a cue from Howard Zinn on how to write passionate historical perspective from the people's point of view.
A stunning history book! June 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Great Upheaval is a book that's not just a history book, but also a book that makes for great reading. The author pays equal emphais, I think, to rendering an accurate and detailed historical accounting of the last part of the 18th century as well as providing us with a memorable ride through history with his gripping portraits of the key players and critical happenings.
Once you read the book, you'll really understand the underpinnings of both the American and the French revolutions. You'll also, thanks to the meticulous reasearch of the author, get to intimately know people like Catherine the Great, Potemkin, Marie Antionette, Louis XVI, Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, the Ottoman kings, Lafayette, Robispierre.
The author describes numerous violent episodes and upheavals in vivid details that make the book seem more like a horror story at times. But such were the times indeed, and the writing matches the reality, I guess. anyone can clearly see the relatively peaceful nature of the American revolution compared to the liberation stuggle of people in other countries and come to understand what makes the American experience so unique.
All in all, you'll be more well grounded in history after reading this book. I strongly reccommend the book, both for history buffs as well as for people who like a well writeen book.
 Does not Prove its Essential Thesis June 17, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Winik does not prove his thesis that the American Revolution inspired the great upheavals of the end of the 18th Century or that George Washington inspired the world as the great man of the era. He completely ignores England, which had its own important revolution 100 years earlier and which had pioneered parliamentary democracy. Indeed, the American Revolution was itself inspired by the British example. If the world was looking for successful democratic models at the end of the 18th Century, the model was clearly Britain. In short, Winik is unpardonably American-centered in his viewpoint and fails to put the American experience in its proper context as an offshoot of the British experience.
As for Washington, Winik offers no empirical support for the idea that he was perceived as the great man of an age that included the likes of Napoleon, Voltaire, Pitt, and Burke. Clearly, Washington is iconic and is of critical importance for American history, but was he really a figure who the world embraced as the father of global liberalism? There's no empirical support for this, and I doubt that Washington translates that well. Even in this country he lacks the resonance of Lincoln and other important iconic figures.
At times Winik makes some sound and intriguing arguments. His contention that Louis XVI could have put off the revolution with some more decisive action is persuasive. His analysis of Catherine the Great as the great enlightened despot of the age, and his argument that she is ultimately a tragic figure given her later reactionary years, are also persuasive. His most effective argument is that leaders and countries were well aware of world events and responded and reacted to one another. A common historical error is to treat nations and eras with arbitrary isolation.
But, on the whole, Winik does not marshal data to make persuasive historical analysis and the book ends up being overly chatty, superficial, and anecdotal. Winik writes well and his portrayals of the leading figures of the time are entertaining. But this is not the tightly reasoned argument he provided us in "1865".
|
|
|
