Founding Brothers, Book Review Example

The Founding Brothers from Joseph Ellis is a historical work that tackles a number of moments in the history of the new American nation.  Ellis provides insights upon many of the Founding Fathers, providing a wealth of engagement and excitement into his stories.  Quite clearly Ellis aims at establishing truth to some of the most interesting stories of the Founding Fathers in the new United States.

Summary

Ellis’s historical vignettes take the reader on a number of short stories.  There are a number of engaging topics presented, such as the collaboration between Madison and Jefferson, the duel between Hamilton and Burr, slavery in the 1790s, George Washington’s farewell, and the relationship between Jefferson and Adams.  Overall Ellis gives a number of stories to the reader regarding the characters, personalities, and events in post-revolutionary America.  It brings together levels of analysis and insight into these elements.

Evaluation

Ellis provides a number of interesting accounts of these figures and events.  He certainly succeeds in some areas, while not in others.  Overall it provides a great deal of insight and analysis, while the reader must be cognizant of its shortcomings, where one may be misled on certain accounts.

Insight

One of the best values to Ellis’s work is the insight to which he provides.  In one definite dimension, the insight given by Ellis enables the reader to be drawn into the dynamics of certain situations.  Truly the reader is able to given a close view of the situations, characters, and personalities of the book.  The value is thus not undermined in terms of entertainment value, where the reader is able to be captivated by the insight provided by Ellis, which is also of course very educational.

The second dimension is the educational value of the book.  Not only is it interesting to read, but the reader is able to learn about these elements in the aftermath of the birth of the United States.  One example of this is seen in regards to the abolition of slaves.  The reader is able to learn how opponents of the abolition of slavery focused on the immense costs, between $70 to $140 million when the total federal budget was $7 annually.  Ellis’s insight informs the reader of how a gradual emancipation would have worked, when the numbers appear to be much more reasonable.  Ellis provides insight along these lines to educate and leave the reader asking questions, as certainly seen in the “What if?” of the previous suggestion.

Shortcomings

However there are some shortcomings to the work.  Most integral, and related to the previous point, is found in misleading information that is presented by Ellis.  Ellis has a tendency to involve some of his personal politics and negative motives to figures.  This is widely seen in his target of Thomas Jefferson.  For instance, Ellis charges that Jefferson willed himself to die on July 4, 1826, to make for a grand exit.  However, it is quite absurd to charge Jefferson with this, that he willed himself to die on America’s 50^th anniversary of its independence.  Certain attempts like these from Ellis do not bode well for his credibility.  Thus, one must take care in some of Ellis’s analysis.

At times the book is somewhat a difficult read.  I wasn’t a fan of Ellis’s writing style, which tends to move along slowly at some points in my opinion.  The narrow method of writing also led to Ellis’s pedantic presentation.  The presentation of the book isn’t conducive to further reading as well, with unfortunate and non-descriptive chapter titles.  Overall it is certainly a book in which one can only read straight through to find one’s reference point, due to presentation.

These tendencies certainly create a work that is not for everyone.  Ellis has a cynical tendency against some of the figures and events that are noteworthy in the work.  It is quite difficult to read through the work, as Ellis tends to get caught in certain points or lines of thought that are pedantic.

The negative tendencies are however weighed against what Ellis does well.  Ellis definitely has the ability to provide a great deal of insight into a certain situation, character, or event.  His analysis at times is very revealing and engaging as well.  However, one must be careful to take too much weight in what Ellis has to say.  As we have seen, some of Ellis’s charges are undeserved and misleading.

Conclusion

The book targets those who have an interest in the history of the United States.  Those looking for insights about the important Founding Fathers will not be disappointed in the work, which sheds light, information, and analysis on a number of issues.  However, the reader must be careful in some of the drawbacks of the work, which are largely placed in Ellis’s presentation and negative characterizations in some places.  Personally it helped me understand a number of events in post-revolutionary America that I was not too well versed.  However, I cannot say that the cynical attitude of Ellis was particularly valuable for me.  Additionally, the presentation in the book in the writing and the chapters makes it difficult, in my opinion.  However, one cannot argue about what the book does well.  For this reason, though it was not for me, I cannot fail to recommend this in a higher education environment, which can learn much from what Ellis has to say, even if it reinforces what Ellis does not do well.