Book Review - Founding Brothers

I knew the book had great potential when I read “…the pages that follow, constitute what I hope is a polite argument against the scholarly grain, based on a set of presumptions that are so disarmingly old-fashioned that they might begin to seem novel in the current climate. In my opinion, the central events and achievements of the revolutionary era and the early republic were political. These events and achievements are historically significant because they shaped the subsequent history of the United States, including our own time. The central players in the drama were not the marginal or peripheral figures, whose lives are more typical, but rather the political leaders at the center of the national story who wielded power. What’s more, the shape and character of the political institution were determined by a relatively small number of leaders who knew each other, who collaborated and collided with one another in patters that replicated at the level of personality and ideology the principle of checks and balances imbedded structurally in the Constitution.”

So begins Founding Brothers, the Pulitzer Prize winning book on principally seven men who “collaborated and collided” to create the nation we have today. With insightful detail the author focuses on the Burr-Hamilton duel, a monumental dinner involving Madison and Hamilton, the silence for seventy years concerning slavery, Washington’s historically important Farewell Address, the collaboration of the political teams of John Adams and his wife Abigail verses Jefferson and Madison, and finally the ageless friendship of Adams and Jefferson.

For many years it was difficult for me to find new biographies for our students which focused on the political leaders of the past which greatly influenced our political past. Instead the bookshelves reflected the fairly brief emphasis on everyday people from our American history. Of course this forced me to find out of print books until this passing faze of historical interpretation blew over. Times have changed, with his book being a great example leading the way.

The Bios tenth grade U.S. History students will be required to read and take an open book exam while working through the chapter on the American Revolution.

If you have the chance, you might want to give Founding Brothers a read. A real find involving real history.