Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation Paperback | Pages: 290 pages

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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)

Chronicle In Pursuance 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.

Define Regarding Books Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation

Title	:	Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
Author	:	Joseph J. Ellis
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Special 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 Regarding Books Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation

Ratings: 3.93 From 40017 Users | 1803 Reviews

Evaluation Regarding Books Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation

This book is a masterpiece. A word to the wise, though: it is not "history light" or pop history written for the masses. This is a very intellectual work; it could reasonably be characterized as fairly heavy reading. It is primarily an examination of the founders and their political activities during the 1790s, though the final chapter tells the story of Jefferson's and Adams' resurrected friendship and unprecedented 14 year exchange of 158 letters, ending with them both dying within hours of

An excellent review of some of our earliest leaders. Great information your standard history book does not reveal. Ellis is a great writer and brings his characters to life in a vibrant and informative style.

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

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph Ellis represents a masterful, insightful account of 6 pivotal moments or episodes in early American History. What seemed most compelling was the author's manner of contrasting the personalities & resultant philosophies of the key figures. I began a rereading of Founding Brothers quite unintentionally, wanting to check the segment on the Hamilton vs. Burr duel just after reading Gore Vidal's novel Burr, ending up reading the Ellis book

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

A 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.

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