Rating: 
Summary: Informative, but overly academic and wordy
Review: Founding Brothers was a helpful book in learning about some of the background of stories affecting the founding fathers of the Republic (Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, etc.) in its early days. From discussions on early debates on slavery, to Washington's departure from public life, to the background of Hamilton's clash with Aaron Burr, there is much more here than is usually reported about these illuminating incidents.Where the book lost me was its reliance on seeking the perfect words, phrases and more, making the book less enjoyable then reading David McCullough's John Adams or other books on these contemporaries. While informative, this bent towards an overly academic prose style will not make the book easy to sit down and read for the avergae historical reader. This book is best used in sections for its further information on incidents that shaped our early democracy. While well-researched, it is hard to read straight through without needing to pause for some time and for occasionally more caffeine.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fascinating Read!
Review: This is right on up there with McCullough's "John Adams" as the best history work I have read in years! In fact, I think this book greatly whetted my apppetite for the Adams book. Each chapter is an independent story, so this book is great for those who may have trouble reading a lengthy book at one time. Each chapter tells the story of an important, but usually little-known episode in US Revolutionary history that had a great impact on this country's beginnings and/or development. The writing is top-notch and seemingly pretty objective (no obvious political axes to grind). I also enjoyed Ellis' somewhat abbreviated biography of Thomas Jefferson, "American Sphinx." This is the book (Founding Brothers, that is) to buy your history-buff friends (although many of them already will have it!).
Rating: 
Summary: Founding Brothers
Review: I have recently joined a book club at work. We decided to read fiction one month, non-fiction another month. Our first non-fiction was Founding Brothers. Most of us did not make it through the book. Those of us that did plow through it felt it was interesting, but the writing was more "text book", making it a difficult read. We were all amazed at what we learned about history (different than what we learned in school). I would repeat what another review said in that this is a book for those sincerely interested in history, and perhaps with a little more background than a beginner.
Rating: 
Summary: A worthwhile read
Review: Being over 200 years removed from the start of America, it's sometimes hard to think of the founding fathers as anything but gentlemanly statesmen, with no other motivation than the good of the country - How wrong that vision can be! This book gives a good insight into the personalities and personal conflicts between the individual founding fathers, and tries to shed some light on the consequenses of these conflicts. Indeed, the very nature of our two-party system is a direct consequense of the political and personal animosity between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Although these conflicts shed some light on the founding fathers as people, I found the book a little light when it came to consequenses of these conflicts. I also felt that Ellis may have played favorites a little too much in terms of the Adams v. Jefferson conflict, giving Adams perhaps more credit than he may be due. Overall, a very good book for people interested in historical personalities, but not great for lovers of history.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing Approach to an Over-Approached Topic
Review: Ellis's approach to weaving the success and failures of each man together is far more effective than studying each man's history seperately. None of these men were saints. You will find no hero worship in this book. You will find yourself cheering one man's bravery or humility in one chapter and booing his cowardice or pride in the next chapter. Forgive them or condemn them for their actions, but this book will help you understand the men and their actions. If there is one thing you will learn from this book (though there is far more than one lesson in it) it is this: We were once a nation of men, whos existence was protected by the character and wisdom of those men. We have become a nation of laws, whos existence is protect by the adherence to these laws on the part of the government and the governed.
Rating:
Summary: Well-researched, but impossibly longwinded
Review: I found the author's insight to be well researched and fascinated. In fact, my fascination with his topics was exceeded only but the author's fascination with his vocabulary.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Primer on the Revolution Generation
Review: You should be able to tell how good a book is by how faithful it is to the task it sets up in the preface. In this case Ellis was spurred to write this book while reading (of all things) "Emminent Victorians," by Lytton Strachey. He was motivated by Strachey's ability to mix multiple personalities in selected themes and do it in a way that allowed the reader to get an glimpse on what makes the people tick and, most importantly, to do so without being repetitious within 250 pages. Here one learns a good cross section of the thoughts, ideas and group dynamics of the American Revolution's Founding Brothers. Ellis is best in teasing out the nuances in vital philosophical differences between the major figues and seeing how they coalesced about certain issues; from the ethereal, libertarian and high-minded ideas of Jefferson and Madison (Madison being the more earth bound of the two) to the very concrete, reality based pragmatism of Hamilton and Washington. The interactions were the foundations of fast friendships, gentle debate, ideological controversy and, at least in one case, the source of one duel leading to the death of Hamilton. For those that are thoughtful one can see the ideological currents of America being set early. The reason-based ideas of Jefferson and the idea of uncompromising Liberty are here writ large; they appear as they are, idealistic and, at time anarchistic and not based upon life expereince (Jefferson still defended the French Revolution during the Terror, using some of the best casuistic arguments that defenders of Stalin would well recognise). Hamilton on the other side realised that strong central govt. was the sin qua non of any nation. He emerges as the central hero, or villian during the arguments of the Assumption Act. A hero because he realised a country was only as strong as its currency. A villain because he was associated with NY power brokers and British Merchant Lenders. Above it all remains Washington. Flawed and at times not appearing too intelligent or gainly, but the man imposed practical reason and logic, based upon life experiences upon government. He had seen that unfettered freedom almost lost the revolution. The proper measure of liberty and central control was necessary for the foundation of the state. And so he remains a hero in this book, but not the hero of the revolution, a hero because of the words of warning in his farewell address. There is also an overview on the section of Slavery. The topic was debated and then shelved. All parties realise that the cancer of Slavery could consume the nation, but the idea was that the topic would be considered later when the Union could endure the debate. We know with hindsight that such thoughts were naive in the extreme. At the time however the moderating influence of some of the Founding Fathers of the US merely prolonged the inevitable. But they could not have known at the time. Ellis notes and describes all of debates of the time for and against slavery and notes that they exactly paralled those of the 1850s. Ellis writes extremely well. He has a knack for describing the thought processes of complex people long dead. At the end of 250 pages you get a feeling that you have understood not only something about these men and their times, but also something about the thoughts shaping the current America and its travaills. It is not an "exciting" read per se, but it certainly holds one's attention. A good read.
Rating:
Summary: Founding fathers, America in love with itself
Review: America is currently the wealthiest and militarily strongest country in the world. It also historically has been important in spreading the free market system and democracy. A by product of this success has been the increasing veneration for its own institutions and history. In the same way that English Whig historians developed their own idea of history as a logical progress which led to the rule of law, respect for rights of the common man and the development of the parliamentary system American historians have developed their own myth. This myth is that their constitutional documents were works of genius. The constitution and the declaration of independence were responsible for what has come after. In fact the originals of these documents are now the subject of pilgrimages as if they were the remains of saints. Now of course there is a certain logic in this approach. Whilst the nature of the American system has been radically altered in practice by the broadening of the franchise it is a country which has maintained its governmental system intact for over two hundred years, something which no other country has done. Its institutions have also been important in the development of political thought and more specifically they have served as a model for the constitution of other countries. Yet if we look at the United States Constitution it is a document which has had its problems. It failed to provide a mechanism to prevent the civil war, it did not protect the Afro Americans during the Jim Crow period. One might in fact think that the Constitution was only one aspect of the American success and there are a rang of other things to describe the development of the system apart from the individual genius of the founding fathers. This book is one that can only be understood in the context of the assumed mythological stature of the founding fathers. It is in reality a series of essays that discuss themes. The willingness of George Washington to retire and not to seek absolute power. The decision to solve the difficulties created by slavery by simply not discussing it. The conflict between Hamilton and Burr as symptomatic as approaches to what sort of place America should be. Each essay is in itself well written and structured in such a way that outsiders to the area can easily understand what is going on. However each essay assumes the American myth of the greatness of the founders rather than looking at what happened as symptomatic or reflective of the intellectual currents of the time. Not a bad read but one which will fascinate Americans and inspire near reverence whilst leaving non Americans with the question what is this all about.
Rating:
Summary: The truth shall set you free
Review: I am not by nature a huge non-fiction person, but when a friend I trust recommended this so highly, I bought it and read it. I knew the rudimentary facts about the United States but (and I am embarrassed to admit) never thought much on it, nor the fundamental ideological differences between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. This is a great book about the mythic figures of the founding of the United States and just how fallible they truly were. This book cleans all the moss and clinging vines from their persons and shows all the squabbles, petty jealousies and rows that these men all had with one another. One of the most fascinating sections of the book deals with the great silence over the institution of slavery. Since this book deals with the early history of the country, only a sentence or two is devoted to the aftermath of that silence and how it tore the precious country apart only 70 years after. The book also casts light on the strange adversarial relationship of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. This part of the book shows these men at their most human and, in the end, is rather touching. The fact that these two men died within hours of one another on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Indpendence is a coincidence too strange to be fiction. Highly recommended, this book is meticulosuly researched and well written yu Joseph Ellis.
Rating:
Summary: a good read
Review: This is a great book and very informative for the length. It does get a little wordy at times, but still one for the history buff.
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