Founding Brothers: Joseph J. Ellis' Revolutionary Generation

Lee Majors: Most history books and biographies of historical figures tend to be long, running into the many hundreds of pages, sometimes even a thousand pages or more; that tendency is certainly prevalent when it comes to books on American history and those who were instrumental in the American founding. And there is good reason for the doorstop quality of this genre of books: if the book aspires to tell the story, there is a lot to tell. With that truism in mind, the first remarkable thing about Joseph Ellis's Founding Brothers, even before the cover is opened and the first page is read, is its brevity. The paperback version I read comes in short of two hundred and fifty pages for a book that purports to tell its readers a story about America's founding and those who were in the thick of the melee; that in itself is a noteworthy achievement.

Ellis's concision is a feature of his account; he states in the acknowledgments, "I wanted to write a modest-sized account of a massive historical subject…hoped to render human and accessible that generation of political leaders customarily deified and capitalized as Founding Fathers." But how to do this with what he calls the "great ocean of...

United States on Oct 31, 2023

Frederick W. Benner: Item delivered intact and on time. It is exactly as described by the seller and what I was looking for. Thank you

United States on Aug 06, 2023

Stuart W: 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.

United Kingdom on Mar 07, 2022

Anonymous sw: Excellent. Used to be taught by Ellis for a semester so very pleased to reread it and now use the book with my own students in school.

United Kingdom on Feb 01, 2018

Marcello Venturelli: 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 !

Italy on Aug 05, 2016

O. Halabieh: Below are key excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:

1- "In the long run, the evolution of an independent American nation, gradually developing its political and economic strength over the nineteenth century within the protective constraints of the British Empire, was probably inevitable. This was Paine's point. But that was not the way history happened. The creation of a separate American nation occurred suddenly rather than gradually, in revolutionary rather than evolutionary fashion, the decisive events that shaped the political ideas and institutions of the emerging state all taking place with dynamic intensity during the quarter of the eighteenth century. No one present at the start knew how it would turn out in the end. What in retrospect has the look of a foreordained unfolding of God's will was in reality an improvisational affair in which sheer chance, pure luck both good and bad—and specific decisions made in the crucible of specific military and political crises determined the outcome. At the dawn of a new century, indeed a new millennium, the United States is now the oldest enduring republic in world history, with a set of political...

United States on Dec 15, 2013