Joseph J. Ellis
Paperback | Pages: 290 pages Rating: 3.93 | 40017 Users | 1803 Reviews
List Books Conducive To Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
| Original Title: | Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation |
| ISBN: | 0375705244 (ISBN13: 9780375705243) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Aaron Burr, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington |
| Setting: | Defuniak Springs(United States) |
| Literary Awards: | Pulitzer Prize for History (2001), Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award (2001) |
Description In Favor Of Books Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
Informs our understanding of American politics--then and now--and gives us a new perspective on the unpredictable forces that shape history.An illuminating study of the intertwined lives of the founders of the American republic--John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.
During the 1790s, which Ellis calls the most decisive decade in our nation's history, the greatest statesmen of their generation--and perhaps any--came together to define the new republic and direct its course for the coming centuries. Ellis focuses on six discrete moments that exemplify the most crucial issues facing the fragile new nation: Burr and Hamilton's deadly duel, and what may have really happened; Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison's secret dinner, during which the seat of the permanent capital was determined in exchange for passage of Hamilton's financial plan; Franklin's petition to end the "peculiar institution" of slavery--his last public act--and Madison's efforts to quash it; Washington's precedent-setting Farewell Address, announcing his retirement from public office and offering his country some final advice; Adams's difficult term as Washington's successor and his alleged scheme to pass the presidency on to his son; and finally, Adams and Jefferson's renewed correspondence at the end of their lives, in which they compared their different views of the Revolution and its legacy.
In a lively and engaging narrative, Ellis recounts the sometimes collaborative, sometimes archly antagonistic interactions between these men, and shows us the private characters behind the public personas: Adams, the ever-combative iconoclast, whose closest political collaborator was his wife, Abigail; Burr, crafty, smooth, and one of the most despised public figures of his time; Hamilton, whose audacious manner and deep economic savvy masked his humble origins; Jefferson, renowned for his eloquence, but so reclusive and taciturn that he rarely spoke more than a few sentences in public; Madison, small, sickly, and paralyzingly shy, yet one of the most effective debaters of his generation; and the stiffly formal Washington, the ultimate realist, larger-than-life, and America's only truly indispensable figure.
Ellis argues that the checks and balances that permitted the infant American republic to endure were not primarily legal, constitutional, or institutional, but intensely personal, rooted in the dynamic interaction of leaders with quite different visions and values. Revisiting the old-fashioned idea that character matters, Founding Brothers informs our understanding of American politics--then and now--and gives us a new perspective on the unpredictable forces that shape history.
Declare Based On Books Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
| Title | : | Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation |
| Author | : | Joseph J. Ellis |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 290 pages |
| Published | : | February 5th 2002 by BALLANTINE BOOKS (first published October 17th 2000) |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. North American Hi.... American History. Politics. Military History. American Revolution |
Rating Based On Books Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
Ratings: 3.93 From 40017 Users | 1803 ReviewsJudge Based On Books Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
"And so while Hamilton and his followers could claim that the compromise permitted the core features of his financial plan to win approval, which in turn meant the institutionalization of fiscal reforms with centralizing implications that would prove very difficult to dislodge, the permanent residence of the capital on the Potomac institutionalized political values designed to carry the nation in a fundamentally different direction."This is a sentence found on page 80 of Joseph J. Ellis'sA re-read of a classic. Much more analyses than I remembered. One of the advantages to revisiting. Six distinctly different chapters with a lot attention to Washington, Adam, and Jefferson. Smaller attention to Hamilton, Madison and Franklin. 4 stars.
I knew I was gonna hate the reviews for "Founding Brothers" the moment I noticed its composite rating is, depressingly, less than four stars......Wait. Am I allowed to make fun of other reviewers on Goodreads? Will that get me banned?I'll just say this: the word for a "nonsensical work" is "drivel," not "dribble." And "Founding Brothers" is not drivel. It's a beautifully written, smartly argued, and ACCESSIBLY succinct masterpiece (accessibly in caps because some Goodreaders seem to be under the
Ellis is a great storyteller who has much to say about the men (and a few women, notably Abagail Adams) who formed our country. He focuses on six specific events that, he believes, crystallize and best exemplify the magnitude of the founding fathers' work and their dramatic legacy. Among his topics: the Burr-Hamilton duel, Washington's farewell address, the infamous "dinner" at Jefferson's house, Benjamin Franklin's poignant, end-of-life attempt to end the slave trade, John Adams' turbulent
This book was the first book that ever made me cry because it was too hard to read pleasurably. I felt like the author took stories we all already know about, and locked himself in a dark room with a thesaurus and babelfish and used the LOLZCATZ approach to writing, only in historese. I frustra-cried, it was that bad. I felt double bad about this book because I had bought it for my dad earlier in the year as a birthday gift, and when it was on the required reading list of my American History
While reading the first part of this book, I wished Aaron Burr had shot me.
As a lover of all things historical and a casual reader of history books, I thought that Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation was very informative and educational. I learned many things about America's founding fathers and the revolutionary period of history that I didn't previously know. The book is laid out in six separate vignettes, each following a crucial event in that era of history: the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton; a private deal that was made between
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