Rating: 
Summary: More academic then I was hoping for
Review: While informative, this book was a little difficult to read, especially in the first few chapters. The first chapter on the duel between Hamilton and Burr was too heavy on historic details, but was interesting nonetheless. The chapter on the political and personal relationship between Adams and Jefferson was excellent. The clear understanding I came away with is that even the "founding brothers" acted like and were politicians. Something I hadn't considered before reading the book and a fact that puts todays partisan politics in perspective. Better to argue with words in a legal framework than with guns in a battle. I'd recommend this book for those interested in politics and history, but its not a good one to bring on the plane. It requires concentration and thought to read and understand.
Rating: 
Summary: This is Where it All Began, The Joy of Politics
Review: The circumstances around my reading this book made for some good discussions here at home. As I read this book, my lovely wife was reading "John Adams". You may already know that Mr. Ellis, this book's author, also composed a volume about Mr. Adams entitled "Passionate Sage: The Life and Times of John Adams". When you read this book, see if you can try this idea with someone, then switch. What a great learning experience. But I digress...As you may already know, Mr. Ellis takes some of America's greatest personalities and elaborates on several incidents in which they were involved that he feels played an important role in the development and history of this country, similar to Lytton Strachey's "Eminent Victorians". The author dives deeply into the important details of each event, and then expands to include the great picture and impact. He does this with engaging chapter titles, "The Dinner", "The Collaborators", "The Friendship". Then he grabs the readers attention with "The Duel", "The Farewell", and "The Silence". This is one of the best "learning experiences" I can remember. Entertaining, authoratative, endlessly researched and detailed, one can't help but learn and be awed by what these men did so long ago. And then to see that not much has changed since then. Bravo and kudos Mr. Ellis. Well done!! I'm off to get your book about Jefferson.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT FOR THE MASSES
Review: Only a fan of Revolutionary Era political minutia would enjoy this book. It was the most prolix and boring piece of history I have read in many years, and especially dissapointing as a Pulitzer Prize winner.
Rating:
Summary: Well written look into the lives of our founding fathers
Review: Having only read one or two books about our nation during the revolutionary years, I was happy to find what looked like a well-written introduction to the lives of our founding fathers. Ellis's book succeeds in many ways at showing us how these men related to each other as friends, politicians, enemies, and brothers. I think that laying the book out into separate stories showed inventive storytelling, as well as portrayed the web of connections between these men (& women). I also appreciate an opinionated analysis of what happened. But I find that Ellis' take on certain events is a little askew. His disdain for Jefferson goes beyond obvious, and he seems to not be able to say anything negative about George Washington. In fact, Washington came off as more of a mystery than even Jefferson. Ellis' rhetoric was at times definitely politically-incorrect, which is OK at times; but his portrayal of Native Americans seemed to border on the offensive, casting them as murderous savages and not taking into account that it was their land that was being taken away. His handling of the slavery issue, however, seemed realistic yet sensitive to the intricacies of such a complicated subject.
One thing I really got out of this book was an appreciation for the delicacies of nation building. It also got thinking about the different ideologies - republicanism, federalism, liberalism, conservatism, etc. - and how they have molded into the different political parties and ideologies of today. An appendix listing dates, presidents, or important events of the time would have been helpful to the average reader like myself.
Rating:
Summary: Mesmerising
Review: A perfect book. After reading it I am on a crusade to learn all I can about the characters around which it revolves. Read this book and change the way you think about history. It's that good.
Rating:
Summary: Band of Brethren
Review: I must disagree with those who claim this is a boring book; Ellis writes crisply and with humor. I suppose some interest in Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary politics and history will help, but it's difficult to imagine that anyone with some curiosity about early America will find this tedious. On the contrary, Ellis manages to capture the personalities and politics of seven "Founding Brothers" in a mere 248 pages full of sound observation, healthy cynicism, and a broad understanding of his role as historian. As noted by others, the book has 6 chapters (and an excellent 18-page preface) which frame major issues within the relationships of the "Brothers." Ellis examines the linked compromises between slavery, states' rights, and Federal monetary authority in "The Dinner" (Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison); he describes the tempestuous politics in "The Duel" (Hamilton and Burr); and (through Adams and Jefferson in the final two chapters) he discusses the conflicts between national and state interests, and between sovereignty and rebellion. Ellis' best chapter is "The Silence," which posits the Union, from its inception, as a precarious alliance which could only "resolve" the contradiction of slavery by ignoring it. "...George Washington...also concurred that the ongoing debate in the House [under the auspices of Benjamin Franklin] was an embarrassing and dangerous nuisance that must be terminated. The common version of leadership [was] a keen appreciation of the political threat that any direct consideration of slavery represented in the still-fragile American republic. And the man who stepped forward to implement this version of leadership was James Madison...Madison's prudent and silent intervention rescued Jefferson from the secessionist implications of his revolutionary principles..." The above is an example of Ellis' grasp of politics and political theory, as well as his dense but insightful writing. My only complaint is the book's focus on Adams, Jefferson, and Washington; Madison, Franklin, Hamilton, and Burr (in order of their prominence within the book) are less central. There is little, if anything, on the war of 1812 or the presidency of Madison, while Ellis' thoughts on the Adams/Jefferson correspondence become somewhat redundant. Still, this is an illuminating and well-written book by an author who does not pull his punches. Speaking of Jefferson's letter stating that he always valued Adams' judgement ("with the single exception as to his political opinions"), Ellis humorously comments that this is a "statement roughly equivalent to claiming that the Pope was otherwise infallible, except when he declared himself on matters of faith and morals." In a relatively short book (too short, in my opinion), Ellis gets to the heart of the issues that both preoccupied the "founders" and that dominated the ensuing political landscape. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Ellis & Adams & Jefferson
Review: More interesting episodes of historical speculation that seek to polish, or perhaps Polish, the ever so lightly tarnished reputation of the charmingly irascible John Adams, incivil straight buzzy Tory pragmatist revolutionary. Abigail & John Quincy Adams also appear, as do George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, & the always amusing (as good as any Dickens character?) Aaron Burr. Am I forgetting anyone? Of course. The sphynx-like Thomas Jefferson, civil crooked pacific Liberal idealist revolutionary (slaveholder). Ellis wishes the palpably vile Alien and Sedition Acts away, glossing over this faux pas as best he can, perhaps even daring to suggest that the loyal innocent Abigail? I swear! It's all quite readable, but also tricky as Jefferson, or Ellis, himself? If one DOES elect to puff up John Adams past a point, much of the rank idealism we love to pretend as our basis falls away, revealing distilled ruthless pragmatism? An interesting notion, especially now. Adams & Jefferson were grand complementary cronies, but neither needs any rehabilitation at all & comparing an apple to an orange has its drawbacks. John Adams DID have a very close contempory compatriot/enemy, a man of oddly similar temperament/talent/integrity (men equally ill-suited for high executive office, no matter how brilliantly Adams scraped through somehow), but comparing/contrasting Adams, precocious son of a hardscrabble American shoemaker, with Thomas Paine, precocious son of a hardscrabble English corsetmaker, doesn't interest Ellis? Why not? Too sensible? Irascible Paine could perhaps use some rehab, now, as We the People must once again determine whether or not we ought to feel constrained by any of the ideals we like to profess, sometimes? Ellis intends, intellectually, per his title, to acknowledge the at least marginal utility/necessity of the mix, the ways in which unprincipled pragmatists of impeccable private character (Washington, Adams) COMBINED with pathetic visionary idealists (Franklin, Jefferson) plus free radicals (Paine, Hamilton) plus assorted loyal minions (Abby Adams, Madison) plus flat criminal pols/pundits (Burr, James Callender) to imagine & begin to nurture/realize something peculiar under the sun. But as gentle reader penetrates past title (hardcover dust jacket copy is also excellent), the failure of Ellis to curb, or check/balance, his extravagant admiration for the very admirable, but not THAT admirable, John Adams skews transmission. The book reads/rings false, over-identified. Ellis feels John's pain? He does, & Joseph J. Ellis is a fascinatingly shifty character in his own right, perhaps worth studying? Not disrecommended at all as postmodern novelization, but don't mistake it for gospel history.
Rating:
Summary: A great book by a great historian, and that's no lie!
Review: Unlike most of the "history" we were force-fed in school, "Founding Brothers" is an example of how history SHOULD be taught - or told. What Joseph Ellis does in this amazing, elegant, thought-provoking, well-written, fascinating, and highly enjoyable book, is (among other things): 1) to bring history to life without "dumbing it down" in the least; 2) as Ellis states in his preface, "to render human and accessible that generation of political leaders customarily deified and capitalized as Founding Fathers;" 3) to show how many of the ideological (i.e., Federalism vs. "States rights") and sectional (i.e., North/South) conflicts which are still with us today were right there at the beginning; 4) to show how none of this was "inevitable" or "predetermined;" and 5) to depict the many ways in which personalities and relationships can sometimes trump "ideology" - and vice versa. In other words, Joseph Ellis has packed a tremendous amount of knowledge, wisdom, and erudition into this relatively short (248 pages) book. It's difficult to pick the high point in such a wonderful, amazing book as this, but if I had to choose, I'd say that Ellis' chapter ("The Friendship") on the complex relationship between two of the most important "Founding Brothers" (John Adams and Thomas Jefferson) was the best -- absolutely fascinating. Ellis' description and analysis of the 50-year history between these two men - opposites in so many ways, yet with so much in common as "founding brothers" - is in and of itself worth the price of "Founding Brothers." And, luckily for historians like Ellis, there is a voluminous correspondence between Adams and Jefferson, with the added bonus that both men were great writers in their own unique ways. Personally, I found Ellis' portrait of John Adams to be the most interesting (and sympathetic) in the book, with Adams' sometimes-friend, sometimes-enemy Thomas Jefferson a notch behind. As portrayed by Ellis, Adams seems to me the most human of all these "Founding Brothers," the most down-to-earth, the most emotional, the most intellectually honest, the most irreverent, the least aristocratic, the most self-aware, and - ultimately - the most accessible and real. Ellis' portrait of Thomas Jefferson also is fascinating, with Jefferson overall coming off pretty badly. Among other things, Ellis shows Jefferson to be: deceitful, dishonest (even with himself), duplicitous, "compartmentalized," hypocritical, and even borderline treasonous - at least by today's standards. Plus, Ellis points out several major cases where Jefferson just totally got things wrong (i.e., that the future was with Revolutionary France, not with Britain, which he believed was in terminal decline...uh, not!), in contrast to Adams, whose judgments more often than not were perceptive, nuanced, visionary, and - importantly - correct. And yet, as Ellis shows, it is Jefferson who more often than Adams has come across as the great hero (as THE author of the Declaration of Independence, and whose Presidency was capped off by the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the country in one fell swoop) in American history, and Adams knew it (and resented it) throughout his life. As Adams wrote, "Jefferson ran away with the stage effect and all the glory of it." Of course, John Adams is in the midst of his own current resurrection, while Jefferson has suffered some blows to his reputation in recent years, so maybe things didn't turn out so badly after all for Adams! In sum, Joseph Ellis richly deserves all the accolades, awards, attention, and book sales which "Founding Brothers" has brought him. Hey, anyone who can make history interesting to millions of Americans raised on a thin gruel of rote memorization, boring textbooks, and stale portraits of dead mythological quasi-deities, (see James Loewen's "Lies My Teacher Told Me") has got to be doing something right! This is a great book, by a great historian, and - despite Ellis' recent difficulties with the truth in relation to his OWN history - that's no lie!!
Rating:
Summary: Truth is more interesting than fiction!
Review: Excellently researched and written, this volume is an interesting look at the men (and Abigail Adams, too) who kicked off our nation's history with enduring success. A masterful work, albeit slow-going at parts.
Rating:
Summary: An Exceptional Read
Review: Ellis has given us a fresh and exciting perspective into the context - the full give and take - of the revolutionary minds that founded this country. Beautifully written, this book is a must read for lovers of history and political pragmatism.
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