As a rule, I don't read nonfiction.

The reason for this is that I don't necessarily read to learn, I read to immerse myself in a different world with its own unique characters (*shallow teenager alert*). So as much as I liked the book for the reasons below, I could never read for a long session like I usually do. Especially towards the end, it was a struggle to get through 10-15 pages at a time, because the language was often fairly complex and the combination of that and the content was putting me to sleep (I know, I never thought I'd say that out loud, because books usually do the opposite and keep me up).

So why the good rating? It was an assignment for college US History. I know you're thinking, "Oh no, not a review that starts with I had to read this for school." But I actually enjoyed reading this (most of the time) and found it interesting. It was extremely well written, and it definitely deserves that Pulitzer Prize for History. The best part was that I learned a ton and it corresponded with the course material, giving me additional information about the time period and historical figures and reinforcing everything I was learning about in class.

I really can't complain about it. It's one of the only decent pieces of literature I've been assigned to read in school, and I highly recommend it to those wanting to learn more about post-Revolutionary America. If you're like me and struggle to get through most nonfiction, you might want to stay away from this one.

I have a confession to make.

I only read this book because I am obsessed with the musical Hamilton.



I hate to be that kind of person. And I know I’m not the only one who’s obsessed, but I’ve been a huge Lin-Manuel Miranda fan ever since I moved 500 miles away from home at age 24 while sobbing along to the finale of In the Heights. It's a song all about understanding what “home” means, and as I drove across the mountains of West Virginia towards the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I realized that, even though this is a man with whom I have practically nothing in common, he’s a guy who understands something fundamental about being a human.

So I was super excited when I first heard about Hamilton several months ago, and I was eagerly awaiting the cast album. The day that it first became available, streaming on NPR, I hopped in the bathtub and listened to the first half of it (hey, it’s nearly three hours long). It takes a couple of listens to a cast album to start to piece together what’s actually happening on the stage while the songs are being sung, so I listened to it a few more times over the next few weeks. As I started to memorize the lyrics, I began to realize just how little I knew about the historical events of the play.

I started out with this book because a) I remembered its cover from my bookselling days and because b) it seemed less daunting than picking up the 800-page biography on which the play is based. This book frames the founding of America around six crucial events, several of which are highlighted in Hamilton: the duel, the Dinner Table Compromise, and Washington’s farewell. I read the book on a flight home to Ohio for my nephew’s birthday while listening to the relevant sections of the musical.

Honestly, the best part about this book is that I understood some of the references in the songs a little better (Hamilton literally threw away his shot at the famous duel). But if I’m being even more honest, I wouldn’t have understood much of what I read had I not already listened to the play. It’s a little….dense. The writing is not particularly approachable. Ellis is incredibly verbose, his sentences are winding and sometimes hard to follow even though the goal was purportedly to streamline history into accessible nuggets. I’m not afraid of hard books, but this one was frustrating.

I hate to be too negative; this might be a great book for bonafide history readers – it won a Pulitzer! – but it’s hard to recommend it for the casual reader with a passing or budding interest in early American history.

i liiiiive for drama that's not mine

Brilliantly vivid and unbelieveably researched little snippets of American history that will make it come alive for you in ways you never thought possible.

You are treated to the Hamilton/ Burr duel, the dinner that changed the American landscape, Washington's grand and forward-thinking farewell address, the cantankerous and deeply sympathetic friendship/rivalry between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, so on and so forth.

epically small and rich in little bites.

I literally wasn’t even reading I think my eyes were just moving across the words

Them all being drama queens was the best part

I was told to read this for my APUSH class. Would I read it again? I think I would rather pay someone my life savings to flay me alive and drop sulfuric acid all over my exposed muscle tissue with an eyedropper until my bones were exposed and then take a knife and whittle my facial features to match the exact bone structure of Alexander Hamilton, as was so wonderfully described by Joseph Ellis, than ever suffer through this dull garbage again.

This book is written like a fourteen-year-old trying to win an argument in a youtube comment section with thesaurus.com open in the other tab so he can try to sound smart. The entire point of this book was SUPPOSED to be to share the founding fathers’ stories so we could see them as people, not just figures in a history textbook. He completely and utterly fails at this. His writing is dry, dull, and convoluted to the point where half the time I would be halfway down a page before realizing he was just repeating the same point over and over worded slightly differently so we could get a full taste of his delightful vocabulary.

This book hides behind a pretense of “sharing the founding fathers’ stories”, but that’s not what it’s about at all. This is Joseph Ellis’s personal showcase, and he wastes no time in reminding you every time you have to read his rambling, over-written sentences.

Overall, a solid 0/10, this book made me question if this world is really real at all, or just a figment of my darkest nightmares.

The one thing I never tire of regarding revolutionary-era histories – in fact, the one thing that, above all else, makes these histories my favorite - is the post career reconciliation and correspondence between Adams and Jefferson. I can read different versions of the same story 1000 times and never fail to be moved by it. Ellis’ version has been told many times before, in equally impressive reads; nevertheless, as Founding Brothers closes on that hallowed moment in 1826 where the two key American founders die within hours of each other on, of all things, the 50th anniversary of the first July 4th, I found myself choking up for the billionth time. And no apologies. It’s just that good of a story. Ellis has a way of approaching the story with his characteristic insights: capturing the emotional side while not failing to fully grasp the historical context.

But that is just one of the six great stories told in this impressive work. Six crucial events that illustrate nicely the ambiguous meaning of the revolution to those who waged it. The Hamilton-Burr duel; Washington’s farewell address; the silence of slavery; the machinations that lead to the passage of Hamilton’s financial plan and the location of the Capitol; the collaborations of John and Abigail Adams, Adams/Jefferson and Jefferson/Madison and finally, that wonderful correspondence where the very meaning of the revolution was debated and a friendship reborn.

Ellis is a great storyteller; his gifts, as always, on full display. Great read.

This absolute gem of a book consists of six vignettes from the founding generation. Each section masterfully depicts an interesting and important event or relationship, e.g., the Burr-Hamilton duel or the Adams-Jefferson friendship. However, this is only part of the book's beauty. Ellis uses each of these episodes to probe deeper themes. The common thread to nearly all these explorations is that the various founders had very different ideas about the nation that they created and the true meaning of the revolution. Perhaps the author's greatest insight is that these conflicting philosophies--which persist in our society today--have not only been there from the beginning, but that America is actually founded on this clash of ideas. In other words, the men who won the revolution and wrote the constitution disagreed on many things. The nation they created embodied their debate and still does.

ახლა, როდესაც ავტორიტარიზმი უნდა დავამარცხოთ და დემოკრატიული სახელმწიფოს შენება დავიწყოთ, განსაკუთრებით მნიშვნელოვანია მზერის მიპყრობა წარსულისკენ. როგორ შეძლო ამერიკის შეერთებულმა შტატებმა დამოუკიდებლობის გამოცხადების შემდეგ ერთიანობის შენარჩუნება? როგორ აირიდა თავიდან საერთაშორისო და შიდა შეიარაღებული კონფლიქტები? როგორი ადამიანები იდგნენ ისტორიის სათავეებთან? ჯოზეფ ჯ. ელისი ძალიან კარგად (მკითხველთათვის ხელმისაწვდომი ენით) მოგვითხრობს 1776 წლის 4 ივლისის შემდგომ პერიოდზე, დამფუძნებელ ძმებზე, რომლებსაც, რა თქმა უნდა ჰქონდათ განსხვავებული ხასიათი, აზრები, გეგმები, მტკივნეული (მხოლოდ მონობის საკითხზე დუმილის პოლიტიკა რად ღირს) და არასწორი გადაწყვეტილებები; ერთმანეთს მწვავედაც უპირისპირდებოდნენ (შეურაცხყოფაზე რომ აღარაფერი ვთქვათ, ალექსანდერ ჰამილტონი აარონ ბართან დუელს ემსხვერპლა), თუმცა მთავარი მიზანი მიღწეულ იქნა - დღეს ტერიტორია, რომელიც ოდესღაც კოლონიური მმართველობის ქვეშ იყო, მსოფლიოს უმნიშვნელოვანესი სახელმწიფოა თავისი ძალით და ურყევი რწმენით, რომ თავისუფლება უმთავრესია (რაც, რა თქმა უნდა, არ გამორიცხავს საბედისწერო შეცდომებსაც - მმართველებიცა და მოქალაქეებიც ხომ უბრალო ადამაიანები არიან).

This book does not attempt a definitive history of the American revolution. It is not concerned with social history or the economic conditions of late 18th century America. Its episodes are not chronological, nor do they cover all the traditional moments highlighted in textbooks.

Instead we find six case studies from within the political leadership of the revolutionary generation, each written with exquisite care for the individuals involved. Each episode pushes you away from textbook or ideological sympathies with the members of this elite group. You will find fault with each character and still appreciate their humanity all the greater.

The book reads almost like a novella, and Ellis's singularly important literary contribution here is in his translation of woolly-sounding letters and prose into high drama with real emotional stakes. The conflicts between the founders are lifted into a realism so effortlessly that only the inclusion of the primary source texts themselves keeps you from rejecting it as historical fiction.

Among the book's highlights are Washington's neutrality as realism approach, Abigail Adams's astounding political powers as First Lady, and the self-aware skepticism to the mythologizing reinterpretations of "key moments" of the revolution. The best chapter deals with the shameful - but perhaps necessary? - way that slavery left the public discourse of the federal government. A kind of political correctness, enshrined by procedural rules in both houses of the Congress, settled on the country wherein the institution of slavery was omitted entirely from discussion. Perhaps it did save the union from disintegration in the early years of the republic. It certainly did not save many of the founders' souls.

Popular culture, if not history, has mythologized and deified the Founding Fathers. They are seen as paragons of wisdom and bravery, dedicated to the principles of freedom and unified against tyranny. Joseph Ellis has shown how far-fetched these ideas are. Well-researched and beautifully written, Ellis' book provides a "warts and all" look at the men who were the driving forces behind the American Revolution: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Hamilton, and Burr are the primary focuses of the book. The first chapter deals with the duel between Burr and Hamilton and concludes with the idea that both men were victims of that day's events. But more clearly, Ellis implies that the country benefited from those men being removed. Hamilton (who has also become a pop culture hero since the musical premiered) is portrayed as a self-serving, greedy, and untrustworthy individual willing to sell his soul (and perhaps his country) to the highest bidder. Burr is shown to be a duplicitous and arrogant man who showed little respect for others' talents, brains, or positions. Next we meet Madison, a toady to Jefferson and consumed with the rights of Virginia more than anything else. His main duties, it seems, were to provide information to Jefferson about the obstacles facing him. Washington was the grandest of the heroes, but as he aged he was described as "senile" (think Reagan) who never wrote a word of his speeches and/or drunk with power (think Caesar.) Because human nature loves to create heroes and then tear them down, he was saved from some of this by willingly stepping away from politics and then dying soon after. Franklin receives short shrift, but it seems that Ellis considers his "contributions" questionable and over-rated. The bulk of the book is spent on the undefinable "friendship" between Adams and Jefferson. Adams, who could turn "Good Morning" into an argument and his polar opposite, Jefferson, enigmatic and unwilling to comment openly on the beliefs and opinions he held in private. Their relationship suffered mightily as they ended up on two different sides of politics: Adams, a Federalist, and Jefferson, a Republican. In spite of the many insults and hurts heaped upon each other (Adams openly and Jefferson covertly), they eventually found the need and opportunity to restore their relationship, dying within hours of each other on July 4, 1826. Many other factors play into this book: the French Revolution, the evils of slavery (and the power it held over decisions concerning the fate of the new nation), political and regional schisms (which still exist today), and more. Ellis organizes his book well and provides new insights into the motives of the men who have been immortalized by history.

This book was one of the most beautifully written pieces I have ever read, it completely transported me to the time of the revolution and the enormity of the decision made by the Founding Fathers when they choose to separate from England. As one reviewer on Amazon wrote, Ellis has captured lightning in a bottle here.

Placed in the shoes of the Founding Fathers, I ask myself whether or not I would have been as brave as they were ? It is very easy to look back on history, knowing the ending and say 'yes'. It's very tempting to flatter one's self and over estimate our own courage, but like most things in life, you don't know until you're living it. Life is as precious as freedom, and it's hard to know of how much of one we would be willing to sacrifice for the other.

This book stands alone as an example of extradionary writing. I praise it for both it's historical knowledge and prose. It took me on the life journeys of unique men, I had tears in my eyes reading Adams and Jefferson's final correspondence. It gave me insight into the arc of a human life and how important the people we travel it with are as we finish living. We journey differently, but we all have the same final home, regardless of our politics.

Reading this in my 20s, it gave me the perspective of an older person looking back on their life and reflecting. What gave these men contentment in their final years was so moving. This is invaluable reading for a young person, priceless contemplation for teens and 20 somesthings. Thank you Joseph Ellis.