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Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
by: Joseph J. Ellis

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.40922
EAN: 9780375705243
ISBN: 0375705244
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: February 05, 2002
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: February 05, 2002
Sales Rank: 748
Studio: Vintage

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
In this landmark work of history, the National Book Award—winning author of American Sphinx explores how a group of greatly gifted but deeply flawed individuals–Hamilton, Burr, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Adams, and Madison–confronted the overwhelming challenges before them to set the course for our nation.

The United States was more a fragile hope than a reality in 1790. During the decade that followed, the Founding Fathers–re-examined here as Founding Brothers–combined the ideals of the Declaration of Independence with the content of the Constitution to create the practical workings of our government. Through an analysis of six fascinating episodes–Hamilton and Burr’s deadly duel, Washington’s precedent-setting Farewell Address, Adams’ administration and political partnership with his wife, the debate about where to place the capital, Franklin’s attempt to force Congress to confront the issue of slavery and Madison’s attempts to block him, and Jefferson and Adams’ famous correspondence–Founding Brothers brings to life the vital issues and personalities from the most important decade in our nation’s history.

Amazon.com's Best of 2001:
In retrospect, it seems as if the American Revolution was inevitable. But was it? In Founding Brothers, Joseph J. Ellis reveals that many of those truths we hold to be self-evident were actually fiercely contested in the early days of the republic.

Ellis focuses on six crucial moments in the life of the new nation, including a secret dinner at which the seat of the nation's capital was determined--in exchange for support of Hamilton's financial plan; Washington's precedent-setting Farewell Address; and the Hamilton and Burr duel. Most interesting, perhaps, is the debate (still dividing scholars today) over the meaning of the Revolution. In a fascinating chapter on the renewed friendship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson at the end of their lives, Ellis points out the fundamental differences between the Republicans, who saw the Revolution as a liberating act and hold the Declaration of Independence most sacred, and the Federalists, who saw the revolution as a step in the building of American nationhood and hold the Constitution most dear. Throughout the text, Ellis explains the personal, face-to-face nature of early American politics--and notes that the members of the revolutionary generation were conscious of the fact that they were establishing precedents on which future generations would rely.

In Founding Brothers, Ellis (whose American Sphinx won the National Book Award for nonfiction in 1997) has written an elegant and engaging narrative, sure to become a classic. Highly recommended. --Sunny Delaney

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Why am I even reading this?
OK so I read this book for school and had to write about each chapter. After trying to get through the Preface, I discovered this:
-one, Ellis feels the need to blather on needlessly. This book could have been easily been half the length had the author known the value of good editing

-two, apparently he has never heard of organized writing. You do not talk about one thing, talk about another and then repeatedly go back and forth. It makes this even more confusing to follow along.

-three, hey random interesting facts are cool, but they belong somewhere else, not stuck in the middle of sentence that has a completely different topic.

- four, is this guy a mind reader with a time machine? How does he know what all these guys are thinking at random points in their life? Primary documents will only take you so far. Anything i saw with this kind of tone i did not write about ... Read More

Rating:

- A Primer for Further Study
I am not a scholar in early American Republic, so there are simply aspects of this book I can not discuss. But I can say that for a reader who takes history seriously, and wants a quick introduction to some of the primary characters who populated the political history of that period, this is a fine book. Let me get my biggest complaint out of the way first. For the true novice in the history of the Republic, there is no attempt to create a narrative that introduces the central themes nor timeline. There is an assumption on the author's part that you know the differences between Republicans and Federalists; they you understand the temporal and historical difference between 1776 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Continental Congress 10 years later. Without this introduction, I had trouble putting some one the book in proper context.

That said, the book focuses on people, and less ... Read More

Rating:

- A very entertaining must-read for all Americans
I came to this book too after watching the suberb John Adams mini-series. I wanted to learn more about some of the other early leaders of our nation. The history I learned in grade school was fleshed out here and then some. All of the chapters dealing with different defining moments in the post-revolutionary period were interesting and entertaining. I appreciated the way the book was arranged in short chapters with the major players, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Burr, and Hamilton weaving in and out of the story. You gain an appreciation of how difficult it was to keep our new United States together among a host of complicated issues. I discovered several very interesting parallels to the politics of today. The more things change, the more they stay the same as far as human nature is concerned. I recommend this book to all interested in the story of our country. A must-read for all Americans.

Rating:

- I learned something new about a familiar subject
Even though I'd seen and heard multiple items about the founding generation, I was pleasantly surprised that I learned something new from this work...namely that the discussion of the location of the new capital was seriously sidetracked by an abolitionist delegation's visit (which was even blessed by fellow abolitionist Ben Franklin shortly before his death). Highly Recommended, a great yarn.

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