Founding Brothers

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Summary: THIS NEWS ITEM JUST IN...FOUNDING FATHERS HUMAN!
Review: Want to know why you were never really listening to your high school teachers in US History class? Because US History was never presented like this. Instead of the usual placing of historical characters on high pedestals, Joseph Ellis's perspective demonstrates that in the most amazing of circumstances, the players all turn out to be... guess what, typically human creatures. Imagine that!

Pick your emotion: pride, lust, power, glory, love, hate, fear, greed, satisfaction, contempt, sorrow, ambition. If anything, the Founding Brothers (and Sister) had more personal emotions driving them than most humans, not less. Instead of glossing over the emotions that drive the Revolutionary generation, Ellis distinctly demonstrates how those feelings and desires were the instruments played by the Founders into yet unequaled historical success and national fortune.

Reading almost like a novel, the book covers six separate, distinct incidents (and deferred events), that laid out the actual foundation of our country's values, procedures and principles. All these events occuring after Independence had been achieved and the Constitution begun. Described in a fascinating and modern form, Founding Brothers reveals how the Founders acted often for their own self-interests and frequently interacted with each other in life-altering ways.

Oh, and by the way, it won the Pulitzer Prize. Fun, entertaining, the stories will show you something that you probably never knew before. Founding Brothers also helps show that political leaders are only human, a timely reminder for all in the modern era. Click through to the shopping cart, go to the bookstore, or get to the library. Read this book; if you appreciate American History you'll be glad you did.

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Summary: Engaging and informative - but is it fiction?
Review: In light of the news that Ellis has fictionalized his past, I consider his Founding Brothers a fine illustration of the manner in which historians are essentially writers of fiction. I found his book very readable and engaging, but with so strong a point of view that it came off as more of a fictional treatment of the founders, or at the very least, a very opinionated reconstruction of the past. In particular, I seriously question his assessment of Jefferson's character. On the plus side, I found his treatment of Washington both interesting and with many tidbits I never knew, and his analysis of the slavery question is brilliant. One final note: a few blatant errors detracted from my enjoyment of the book. For example, the vice president is President of the Senate, not president pro tem; and of the first FIVE, not SIX of our presidents, only John Adams had a male heir, since John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, also had a male heir.

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Summary: Worth reading, despite problems in its construction
Review: Ellis's scholarship is undeniable, and his ideas are interesting. What suffers, however, is the construction of this book. Ellis has written the history of the revolutionary generation in a series of short vignette, each of which captures the characters of the founders, and the events that they influenced. While some of these stories are interesting - such as the history behind and reasons for Washington's Farewell Address - others seem lenghtly and prolonged. This said, however, the Founding Brothers is still an enjoyable book to read, and, for the begining reader of the Revolutionary generation, tells a remarkable deal in surprisingly few pages.

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Summary: A worthwhile, readable collection
Review: I call this book a "collection" not because it was cobbled together by the author from prior essays, a la Stephen Ambrose and his "Americans at War", but because the book consists of six different chapters that, with the exception of the last two, are generally related only generally. Ellis explores the period, from the 1780's and 90's through the virtually simultaneous deaths of Adams and Jefferson in 1826, and provides sometimes fascinating details about the interrelated lives, philosophies and alliances of Founding Fathers (he call them Brothers) Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Burr and Hamilton. By the end of the book, you will learn a bit more about each of them, and if you are like me your opinion of Madison and Adams might rise a bit, while your estimation of Jefferson and Burr might take a little hit.

The first chapter, dealing with the Burr-Hamilton duel, was for me the most informative, well-organized and compelling. Ellis places the duel in the context of early 19th century society, and gives a very thorough (considering time limitations of a single chapter) account of the letters and accusations which gave rise to the acrimony culminating in the fateful duel. He then describes the action on the riverside cliffs of New Jersey in detail, and ultimately gives a fairly thorough account of the duel's aftermath. Obviously Hamilton was mortally wounded, as we all know from grade school, but we learn here of the devastating consequences of the duel on Burr's career.

The second chapter, to me, was the weakest. Ellis attempted to illustrate how a deal was brokered by Jefferson at a dinner, involving Hamilton and Madison (obviously pre-duel). In the compromise, the Virginia delegation agreed to accept assumption of state debts by the federal government (which was important to Hamilton and the Federalists), and in return the Federalists agreed that the capitol would be located on the Potomac. All well and good, but by the end of the chapter we learn little about the actual dinner meeting, and Ellis ultimately tells us the compromise was really worked out in advance anyway.

Ellis also explored the character of George Washington, and his historic decision to step down voluntarily after two terms (thereby setting a precedent unbroken until FDR). We are told much about Washington's written farewell address, without seeing much of it unfortunately. There is also a meandering chapter on the great slavery debate, initiated after the Constitution was ratified by some Quakers in Congress.

Finally, he ends the book with two excellent chapters on John Adams and Jefferson, which portray Adams as a committed Federalist who nevertheless hated Hamilton, and who wished to disdain "party politics" and essentially share the job of running the country with his Vice-President Thomas Jefferson. The latter, the "sage of Monticello", comes off a bit tarnished in his image, since he and Madison essentially set out to undermine the Adams presidency, and to establish an "opposition" party structure, with an eye toward the presidency in 1800. Ellis skillfully points out how Jefferson was wrong in many domestic and foreign policy positions (including his passion for the French and his belief in the rhetoric of the French revolution, a la Beethoven). In fact, Ellis often points out that Jefferson was so caught up in his own Republican rhetoric, he often believed he was telling the truth, or believed he was not involved in dirty smear campaigns, when the direct opposite was true. Jefferson simply believed that the principles of the American Revolution were betrayed by the Federalists, and he thought it his patriotic duty to oppose even his own President, at every turn, despite serving as Vice President in the same administration. One can understand why Congress later changed the way vice presidents are elected. Overall I enjoyed the book and thought it was well-written and informative, if a bit uneven.

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Summary: A very educational and entertaining book
Review: Joseph Ellis has taken a different approach with America's revered saints. Instead of discussing them one at a time, he examines their relationships with each other, and shows how those personal relationships effected pivotal situations in American History.

There's a long chapter on the complicated relationship between Jefferson and Adams through the years. There is also a great chapter on the Hamilton/Burr Duel, the events leading up to it, and the best guess scenario of what really happened at the shooting. But my favorite story is a dinner meeting at Thomas Jefferson's house in which Alexander Hamilton and James Madison come to a compromise that would eventually put the nation's capital on the Potomac River.

The book is full of short yet thorough tales. The stories seem to leave out the unnecessary and highlight the consequential. Ellis, gets a great deal of information into this short history book.

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Summary: The Founding Fathers By Way Of Spinal Tap
Review: Founding Brothers casts the Revolutionary Generation as members of a wacky movie:

Jefferson is a scheming image-concious politician

Adams a motor-mouth drama king

Madison the ultimate cold-eyed master parlimentarian, and

Hamilton is a euphoric personality who wants to conquer the world.

This is an educational, and fun read.

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Summary: Founding Fathers
Review: Great ideas in the book. At times it gets a little boring, but parts of it are wonderful. It is easy to see why it won the Pulizer, because it sheds new light on the difficult time after the 1787 Constitutional convention. We assume that everything was in place after the Convention.

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Summary: Founding Brothers
Review: A most interesting detailed account of the age that made our nation. Mr.Ellis shows us that all things are more complex than what they normally appear.

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Summary: Not All It's Cracked Up to Be...
Review: After all the praise heaped on Ellis, I was looking forward to this book, and my disappointment in it has been accute. Putting aside all the controversy over Ellis's misrepresentation of his Viet Nam record, I found this book to be muddy in its research and often downright wrong! I can't understand why such historians as Doris Kearns Goodwin continue in their praises for Ellis. I find his conclusions often difficult to justify, based on the evidence he quotes, his writing style unnecessarily florid and convoluted.

For example, Ellis claims that George Washington was aided in rallying the troops at Braddock's Defeat (Fort Duquesne) by Daniel Boone. Boone was, at this point in his career, employed by the army as a humble wagon driver, and was nowhere near the fighting itself -- and certainly in no position, either physically or in terms of influence, to be of any assistance to Braddock's second in command in rallying the troops. John Mack Farragher, in his wonderful biography of Boone, states uncategorically that Boone cut the traces on his wagon horses and galloped in the opposite direction, along with many of the other wagon drivers, almost as soon as the fighting began. Boone himself used to tell this story with wry humor. This may seem a minor point, but the story figures so vividly in the Boone saga that you'd think Ellis would not have made a claim like that without checking his facts. Where does he get his information?

His explication of the deal worked to secure the site of the nation's new capitol city on the Potomac is no explication at all. At a critical point in the story, he simply states that the deal was reached, without explaining why his conclusion seems to differ from that of some other historians. He gives no conclusive evidence for his judgment.

Ellis's writing style strikes me as less than focused, too. It is not that he does not write well, but that he meanders and over-ornaments his writing.

All-in-all, I have to disagree with the majority of the reviews I've read of this book. I didn't not find it an historically accurate nor even a particularly enjoyable read.

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Summary: Good reading
Review: This book is basically two ideas combined into one volume. The first three chapters are interesting, to say the least, but the last few chapters seem more like an excerpt from a John Adams biography. They are interesting, none the less. This book is a good read for anyone who likes history (American history in particular). As a vet, I am offended that someone would claim to be in the military when they were not, and I can imagine what that feeling would be for a vet who served in Vietnam. But I can overlook that fact to learn something about some of the greatest people that ever lived.