Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

Joseph J. Ellis

Dec 2003 · Sold by Vintage

About this ebook

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A landmark work of history explores how a group of greatly gifted but deeply flawed individuals—Hamilton, Burr, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Adams, and Madison—confronted the overwhelming challenges before them to set the course for our nation.

“A splendid book—humane, learned, written with flair and radiant with a calm intelligence and wit.” —The New York Times Book Review

The United States was more a fragile hope than a reality in 1790. During the decade that followed, the Founding Fathers—re-examined here as Founding Brothers—combined the ideals of the Declaration of Independence with the content of the Constitution to create the practical workings of our government. Through an analysis of six fascinating episodes—Hamilton and Burr’s deadly duel, Washington’s precedent-setting Farewell Address, Adams’ administration and political partnership with his wife, the debate about where to place the capital, Franklin’s attempt to force Congress to confront the issue of slavery and Madison’s attempts to block him, and Jefferson and Adams’ famous correspondence—Founding Brothers brings to life the vital issues and personalities from the most important decade in our nation’s history.

Ratings and reviews

The events leading up to the founding of America have always interested me. However, this recollection of events is way too dry to be enjoyed by any reader. Ellis almost seems to take the most complex words in the dictionary and build a story around those words. His style of writing is equally as horrendous, for he will go on for ten pages about a particular analysis of an issue only to sum it up in a few words afterward and saying that particular analysis is based upon nothing. It makes me sick to see the cornerstone events of America's foundation completely butchered the way Ellis has. If you are searching for a book about the founding of America, let's just say there's 'plenty of other fish in the sea'.

Not true is first thing that comes to mind about this book. Total progressive view of history, not based on facts at all. Read their OWN writings on google books. THUMBS DOWN zero stars if thats possible

The book is easy to follow and extremely interesting. Almost couldn't stop reading!

About the author

JOSEPH J. ELLIS is the author of many works of American history including Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize; and American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, which won the National Book Award. He recently retired from his position as the Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College and lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, with his wife and their youngest son.