book data
18 ratings, 3.67 average rating, 4 reviews
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published
March 2002
by W. W. Norton & Company
binding
Paperback, 256 pages
isbn
0393322335
(isbn13: 9780393322330)
description
Through portraits of four figures—Charles Willson Peale, Hugh Henry Brackenridge, William Dunlap, and Noah Webster—Joseph Ellis provides a u...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 48)
This book is composed of vignettes about four American culture makers (authors, artists, dramatists, etc.) in the first generation after the Revolutionary War. Although the individuals profiled are generally not household names, the book includes a lot of information about early American culture, and explains why it took such a long time for the newly independent United States to develop an artistic tradition.
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Read in April, 2008
Joseph Ellis is a wonderfully clear writing and writes primarily about the American REvolutionary period. This 1979 study of four colonial artists--painter, playright, novelist and wordsmith (?Noah Webster)--is a wonderful look at colonial life. It makes it clear that America was a whole new invention, not a new Europe or a new anything else. It is simply itself and is still becoming that.
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Read in February, 2008
I found it interesting to see the expectations of the post-revolutionary generation for the greatness of American culture. I wonder what they would think of our culture today!
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Some people covered were more interesting than others. On the whole, didn't reel me in as much as previous books.
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