description: Ellis recounts the sometimes collaborative, sometimes archly antagonistic interactions between these men, and shows us the private characters behind the public Adams, the ever-combative iconoclast, whose closest political collaborator was his wife, Abigail; Burr, crafty, smooth, and one of the most despised public figures of his time for killing in a duel Alexander Hamilton, whose audacious manner and deep economic savvy masked his humble origins; jefferson, renowned for his eloquence, but so reclusive and taciturn that he rarely spoke more than a few sentences in public; Madison, small, sickly, and paralyzingly shy, yet one of the most effective debaters of his generation; and the stiffly formal Washington, the ultimate realist, larger-than-life, and America's only truly indispensable figure. Ellis argues that the checks and balances that permitted the infant American republic to endure were primarily intensely personal, rooted in the interaction of leaders with quite different values and gives us a new perspective on the unpredictable forces that shape history.
language: English
title: Founding Brothers : The Revolutionary Generation
titlecomplete: Founding Brothers : The Revolutionary Generation
characters: John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Aaron Burr, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson
genres: Historical, Biography, American, Politics, American Revolution, Nonfiction, School, Presidents, American History, History
ratings_count: 45143
places: Defuniak Springs
awards: awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Pulitzer Prize
category: History, awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award
publisher: Vintage Books