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Nov 05, 2010

Eric rated it:

What an exciting book! Ellis conducts you right into the political chaos of the early republic, when the revolutionary fraternity was splintering in feuds, faction and duels (which are preferable to purges, terrors, and nights of long knives):

The very idea of a legitimate opposition did not yet exist in the political culture of the 1790s, and the evolution of political parties was proceeding in an environment that continued to regard the word party as an epithet. In effect, the lead

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3 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 14, 2008

Nick rated it:

I think giving this book five stars actually does a disservice to the author: It deserves 20! Joesph Ellis' work, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, is a wonderful narrative that immerses the reader in the minds of the founders of the United States of America, and explores the consequences of their actions (or inactions).

Ellis divides the book into six chapters, each revolving around a pivotal point in time, or around specific persons. People mentioned, specifically: More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 05, 2008

Ginger rated it:

This book was the first book that ever made me cry because it was too hard to read pleasurably. I felt like the author took stories we all already know about, and locked himself in a dark room with a thesaurus and babelfish and used the LOLZCATZ approach to writing, only in historese. I frustra-cried, it was that bad.
I felt double bad about this book because I had bought it for my dad earlier in the year as a birthday gift, and when it was on the required reading list of my American Histo More...

9 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2010

Nanette rated it:

Ellis is a great storyteller who has much to say about the men (and a few women, notably Abagail Adams) who formed our country. He focuses on six specific events that, he believes, crystallize and best exemplify the magnitude of the founding fathers' work and their dramatic legacy. Among his topics: the Burr-Hamilton duel, Washington's farewell address, the infamous "dinner" at Jefferson's house, Benjamin Franklin's poignant, end-of-life attempt to end the slave trade, John Adams' turb More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 16, 2008

Julie (Mom2lnb) rated it:

As a lover of all things historical and a casual reader of history books, I thought that Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation was very informative and educational. I learned many things about America's founding fathers and the revolutionary period of history that I didn't previously know. The book is laid out in six separate vignettes, each following a crucial event in that era of history: the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton; a private deal that was made between Hamilto More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2008

Tom rated it:

What a disappointment. Founding Brothers reads like an apologetic for long-time Founding Father of disrepute, John Adams, whose aggrandizement here expectedly reduces Thomas Jefferson to the dual role of timely revolutionary opportunist and self-deluding contradictorian, which may not be a word. Given this, Adams' non-maneuver of allowing the Treaty of Tripoli to be unanimously ratified by the Senate in 1797 is a conspicuous no-show. Or did it not quite raise the pedestal to advertise his imprim More...

5 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 02, 2010

Ob-jonny rated it:

It's fascinating to hear about the politics behind the historical events of the revolutionary generation. James Madison was always behind the scenes pulling the strings!

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 02, 2009

Adam rated it:

Joseph Ellis sets out to depict the Founding Brothers (Washington, Jefferson, Burr, Hamilton, Franklin, Monroe and Adams) in what you may call their true light. Though the actions of this small group of political elites have left their mark our American history they were like you and I merely people with the some of the same flaws. Ellis does an excellent job of taking this group of extraordinary men and providing everyday insight into their lives, successes, and squabbles and helps to decode ho More...

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Dec 23, 2008

DANIEL rated it:

Ellis' book is a highly entertaining recount of selected key events involving members of the Revolutionary Generation. The initial chapters are spirited and reveal dynamic portraits of figures such as Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Washington, Madison, and others. Ellis is particularly good at adding interesting shades of character that break the staid portrait we often have of these 'Founding Fathers'.

However, the final two chapters concerning the famous and often contentious relat More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 19, 2008

Beth rated it:

I found this book uneven. The first chapter, and several others, I enjoyed very much and felt it gave me great insight into the personalities and events of the American Revolution and the time afterwards when the survival of our country was not assured. But there were other chapters that I found fair too long and therefore boring and hard to get through.
I did like the perspective of the book, that is, the structure the author used to talk about these times and these people. Instead of tr More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 11, 2011

Patrick rated it:

A series of relatively short vignettes on various members of the "Revolutionary Generation" (Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, Washington, Burr, Franklin & Madison) and their relationships with one another, particularly their rivalries, friendships and (in some cases) hatreds. The first chapter deals with the long, bitter political rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr that culminated in their famous duel in 1804. The last chapter, fittingly, details the rise, fall and rebirth of More...

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Sep 18, 2011

Joe rated it:

Historian Joseph Ellis's thesis seems to be that the so-called "Founding Fathers" may be better understood as "Founding Brothers," men who were peers, who watched history unfold in realtime, men who made mistakes and sometimes learned and sometimes didn't.
This expansive history examines these very human figures in the context of (mainly) the 1790's and brings them to life through the lenses of six different events.
Though this was my second reading of this excellen More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 24, 2011

Brynan rated it:

"And so while Hamilton and his followers could claim that the compromise permitted the core features of his financial plan to win approval, which in turn meant the institutionalization of fiscal reforms with centralizing implications that would prove very difficult to dislodge, the permanent residence of the capital on the Potomac institutionalized political values designed to carry the nation in a fundamentally different direction."

This is a sentence found on page 80 of Jo More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 18, 2011

Scott rated it:

After listening to David McCullough's "John Adams" Joesph Ellis' "Founding Brothers" was a disappointment. Ellis writes about 6 events surrounding the lives of John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.

The events, Burr and Hamilton's deadly duel; Hamilton; Jefferson, and Madison's secret dinner, where the capital's permanent location & Hamilton's financial plan were planned; Franklin's driv More...

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May 19, 2011

Barbara rated it:

This fascinating book explores the American republic in its infancy, from 1787 to the early 19th century. Far from being the realization of a dream, the fragile new nation was fumbling its way through a variety of challenges, any one of which threatened to break it apart. Ellis has selected 6 significant events, or topics, to illustrate the problems faced by the revolutionary generation and the ways in which they solved them.

The blurriest episode, the first written, is the story of More...

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Apr 05, 2011

Ryan rated it:

"Founding Brothers" gets inside of the relationships between the founding fathers, and describes how our view of the founders changed in the years following the founding of the American Republic.

Shortly after the nation was founded, the Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, were focused on building a strong central government to hold the union together.

Meanwhile, the republicans were focused on maintaining states rights.

The founding of the republic was b More...

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Apr 04, 2011

Lowell rated it:

A wonderful book... save for one item that bothers me so much I give it a 3-star review instead of 4. Joseph J. Ellis tries to convince us that these great men were "posing" for history; that they knew the historic significance of everything they did, and wanted to set a standard for generations to follow.

I respectfully disagree, and prefer David McCullough's approach to history. Speaking at Brigham Young Univeristy in 2005, McCullough said:

"[N]obody ever liv More...

1 comment like

Apr 01, 2011

Dick rated it:

A very interesting book - goes into the early history of this republic, showing that then, as now, democracy makes its way by starts and fits, always leaving you wondering how such a system can work. A question yet to be answered. (Who was it that said "Demoocracy is the worst form of government, except all the others?" There are chapters on the great Americans of the day: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franmklin, Hamilton, and an often overlooked Madison. How Washington deplored th More...

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Jul 01, 2010

Susanne rated it:

Takes six of the founding fathers and looks at events in their intwined lives that illuminate constitutional issues that still live today.

It gets down to the nitty gritty details in an interesting way. And you need those details not just the leftist or Glen Beckest generalizations about the times and persons. (I found out the importance of details when I took a course on the history of Greece -- full itself of secondary sources -- but so much better than the fluff on TV shows. Pi More...

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Jun 17, 2010

Christina rated it:

Ellis focuses on six pivotal events that he feels epitomize seven U.S. founding fathers. The first three events -- the Hamilton-Burr duel, Jefferson's brokering of an agreement between Madison and Hamilton to locate the permanent U.S. capital in Washington D.C. in exchange for support for Hamilton's plan for the federal government to assume state debt, and Franklin's death-bed attempt to force the legislature to confront the slavery question -- went beyond information that I had learned in coll More...

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Dec 04, 2009

Anita rated it:

This book was really well written and interesting, but I gave it only three stars because it was so dense and felt like homework. The author presented these essays with very well thought out arguments and a ton of fascinating supporting detail. He really does paint human portraits of these American legends. But, history isn't really my thing, so it was a lot for me to take in.
My favorite chapter was The Silence, which talks about how the issue of slavery was handled during the early yea More...

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Nov 23, 2009

Adam rated it:

Well-written, interesting book about Adams, Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Burr, Hamilton, and Madison. Some might say you should review the book that was written and not the book you wish had been written. NO. This is Goodreads, not the New York Times, and I will penalize a book for not being what I wanted.

Lots of potentially awesome paths are not traveled in this book. For instance, after he killed Hamilton, Burr ran around the west for a while. That sounds interesting, but it o More...

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Apr 15, 2009

Rogier rated it:

This book is a gem, for me Joseph Ellis' anecdotal approach to early American history works like a magnificent refresher. Evidently Ellis has a commanding view of his material, and the reader can just go pearl diving with him.

The final story in this book on the history of the friendship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson is deeply moving, of how they started as "brothers" in the founding, then ended up opposing each other, in sometimes very nasty ways - particularly Je More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 29, 2009

Jason rated it:

I've had this little book of popular history by Joseph Ellis since the week it came out. But, I never really got around to it. Then, last year at the Washington Book Festival, Ellis came to sign and speak. So, after listening to him, and getting him to sign the book, I decided it was finally time to read the damn thing.

Well, it was an enjoyable little read. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 2001. That may have been a little much given the book is composed of vignettes w More...

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Oct 08, 2011

Matt rated it:

Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis is lively, well-written book, which argues that the founders succeeded not because they liked each other or got along, most of the time they didn't, but because they resolved their differences by doing politics face to face.

Ellis writes in vivid images and analogies but is sometimes too wordy for his own good. For instance, Ellis demonstrates that Adams wanted, in modern terms, to "deconstruct" all romanticized accounts of the founding. But More...

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Sep 24, 2011

Murdock rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Aug 06, 2011

Amanda added it

Me and Scott bought this in a Blue Hill bookstore while we were in Maine with my family. We gave up on that awful Aaron Burr book and switched to this one. I liked this - obviously Ellis knows his shit - though the last chapter seemed unnecessary and felt like pulling teeth to finish. Reading the account of Aaron Burr's duel with Alexander Hamilton was very interesting - something you always hear about, but that I have never delved into at such a level of detail. The most thought-provoking p More...

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May 30, 2009

Alex rated it:

This is a review of the audiobook--the first of many, I hope, that I read during my hour-long commute to work. Take with a grain of salt, because it's harder to concentrate on audiobooks, and I'm listening to these on an iPod Shuffle, so I never know for sure that I'm getting everything. Also, another note: I'd give this book 3 1/2 stars, out of four, if I had the option.

Emotional poignancy isn't normally what you expect out of a history book. I'm not talking about 4th of More...

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Sep 05, 2007

Dan rated it:

A good book that presents honest treatments of many of the ideas and people of Revolutionary War America and the founding of a new nation. It deals very well with the issues around slavery problem and shows Jefferson and Madison in there true colors (though not in as much depth as does Hamilton (by Chernow). Because I'm such a student of this period, it really didn't present me with anything new, though, and I find other books more personalized and readable.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 26, 2011

Brianaustin rated it:

I give Founding Brothers, by Joseph Ellis, four of five stars. This is a great book and I recommend it to anyone interested in George Washing, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams (as well as Hamilton, Madison, Burr, and a few glimpses of other prominent US founders). (I wish we could require this for anyone running for local, state, or national political positions. In addition to how easy it is to read, it sets the context for many of the ideals, statements, and ideas set forth by those founding fa More...

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