Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

Joseph Ellis captures the heart and soul of the revolutionary generation with his aptly titled “Founding Brothers,” a book that chronicles the approximately twenty year period that followed the ratification of the US constitution, a period so dramatic that no novelist could have written it. The book covers six key conflicts among the founders of this nation, conflicts which typify their struggle to reconcile their disparate ideas on public policy. It takes an in-depth look at the psychology of these first statesmen, their ideologies, and the choices they make in the interest of national unity. Some of the highlights include the Hamilton-Burr duel, the ever-contentious debate about slavery, the celebrity status of George Washington (and the point-of-view of his detractors), the star-crossed presidency of John Adams and his eventual correspondence with political rival Thomas Jefferson. Like a great novelist, Ellis develops the character profile of each of the founding fathers with great care, spelling out their personal political views (or lack thereof) and fleshing out all their idiosyncrasies with such wry wit that one can’t help but wonder if he knew them personally. His prose is fluid, elegant and often poetic; his historical acumen is unparalleled. The book is firmly rooted in reality and rarely ever indulges in idle speculation or in tendentious commentary. I don’t know if this is common, but I find it incredibly annoying when a historian takes it upon himself to editorialize history. Leave Howard Zinn and Paul Johnson to write “A Pundit’s History of the United States” and leave others to read it. I will take Joseph Ellis’ version, “A Scholar’s History of the United States,” as this book should be subtitled. It is a true testament to the idea that one can write about the past without inserting one’s own opinion of it. There is so much we can learn from history if we allow ourselves to learn it objectively and draw our own conclusions as we study it. Post-2000 readers should be warned about Chapter 3, which treats of the first congressional debate about slavery, the darkest chapter in US history. Ellis does the best he can to be diplomatic on this subject, even as many of the founding fathers were either apathetic, silent or in favor of this horrible institution. Nevertheless, the task of the historian is to depict all sides of the story, including the detestable. Some passages which he cites in this chapter (out of necessity) will likely outrage contemporary readers. Readers who choose to skip this chapter for this reason will not lose much, as each chapter is self-contained and could be read on its own. In any case, Ellis’ book is a masterpiece, and the reader eager to learn about the history of this fun-filled period will not be disappointed!

Joseph Ellis manages to take the interactions of seven (or eight, is you include Abigail Adams) founders and illustrate the truly amazing issues that faced the framers of the new country. In the preface, Ellis states he believes that politics, rather than the War itself, was the revolution of America. The Revolutionary War was, as we all know, instituted to free the colonists from the economic and social yoke of the British. To do that, they inspired themselves and their countrymen with the idea of individual freedom. But how does one reconcile individual freedom with the notion of government -- any government. Of the fathers(George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and Benjamin Franklin), Washington, Adams and Jefferson are most deeply drawn. They represent the issues, icons and ideologies that perhaps any successful revolution must have. The issues threatened to tear apart the brand new nation nearly at birth. The political battles between Federalists and Repupblicans were vicious and prolonged, and featured lies, personal attacks, misunderstandings, and featured some amazingly strong and intellectually profound personalities. The 'band of brothers' were not overwhelmed with brotherly love. They fought literally and figuratively with one another, even when they were on the same side. The 'Brothers' were far more than the two dimensional figures on our classroom walls, and their weaknesses, failures and blind spots are made clear. But the wrestling resulted in a Constitution that manages to somehow preserve the idea of individual rights with the demands of a coordinated and unified governance. Ellis is a gifted writer but even better, he is gifted in choosing the incidents and relationships that illustrate the conflicts that had to be raised, faced and compromised to allow the new country to continue. The Burr Hamilton duel. The love affair between Adams and his wife. The disrespect Jefferson felt, but hid from even his friends. The invisible elephant in middle of the room that was slavery. The impact of one personality -- George Washington -- had in keeping the country together. There are bits of humor, lots of examples, some fine imagining and nice underlying juxtaposition of issues with their examples. The author can see a theme underlying the disputes. While he calls the eight chapters "stories", I suspect he chose the word to avoid calling them 'essays' and thus scaring off most of us who don't want to read boring, windy expositions of historical views. On the other hand, I was originally attracted to history precisely because it is all stories, and I read history in part to see if I can understand the meaning, if there is any, behind the stories. Ellis, I suspect, sees it my way (or more properly, I see it his). He tells the story and manages to tell you why the story matters. While he never says as much, The Founding Brothers is about the second American Revolution--the one that took place in the Congress, the plantations of Viginia, the small towns of Massachusetts, the bluffs of New Jersey. With one exception, the second Revolution is bloodless, but wounding; barely civilized at times, but world shaking. It was the overturning of all that had come before in the notion of nations, the idea of governing, and the attempt to make practical the very romantic idea of individual liberty. I was around in the sixties, which self conciously billed itself as a revolution and at the time, the people behind the bullhorns were exhorting their fellow citizens to shake off the shackles of a lying government and take over the government for the people. I remember thinking at the time, Great, but let's say it works, and the government falls. What do we do then? All of the romantic ideas could be put into practice, but how? And who gets to decide? The Founding Brothers describes with charm, insight, clarity and sympathy the 'how' after the Revolutionary War is done, and the only weapons were wit, ideals, ideas and politics. A failure of politics would be the end of America then. Just as it might be now.

I learned an amazing amount about our culture and government from reading this book. So many aspects of our current two-party system became much clearer to me. We are, and I discovered always have been, a nation divided over the proper role of government. The Democrat/Republican/Libertarian feud is a continuation of that original question. And our two-party system is a way around the inherent unanswerability of the question. As Ellis clearly lays out, the miracle of the American post-revolutionary period (and of the specific men who steered us through that period) was not that we won the war but that we kept from spiraling into the bloodbaths and cycles of retribution that have plagued so many revolutions since. The writing is engaging and quick. The organization into 6 stories worked very well. Ellis does not pretend to write a comprehensive history, but attempts to capture the emotion and conflict of the time. I felt like I finally knew the people in all those paintings. I could relate to them as real men with real motivations (both petty and momentous). I loved this book, but pure historians might not for many reasons. (See the other reviews. The only factual error I found was when he presented as "correct beyond any reasonable doubt by DNA studies done in 1998" that Thomas Jefferson fathered a child with Sally Hemings (page 202 paperback). In fact, substantial doubt remains. The DNA evidence only proves that someone in Jefferson's family fathered the child.) For an average reader with an average understanding of US history and culture, it is a very enlightening read.

Awesome book. Must read ! If you are looking for a history book, full of details, written with passion and enthusiasm, this is it. Top notch service !

Já li diversos livros sobre o tema e gostei mais de outros mas vale a leitura desse livro, conhecer e entender a história é sempre bom.

Excellent book!!!

Un poco pequeño, y la letra muy pequeña. Tal vez deberían haberlo hecho más grande.

Superbly written. Would recommend this book to anyone interested in the period. Using an event to give context works very well. Nevertheless, why is Abigail Adams not on the front cover? An honourary Founding "brother" if ever there was one.