What issues did the Founding Father face and how did they see and approach them? In "American Creation" author Joseph Ellis focuses on the setting, ideas, arguments, dilemmas, and solutions to some of the key issues that faced Founding Fathers during the early period from the 1775-1776 debates leading to the Declaration Independence up to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.The book is more of a lecture series or one-way conversation to the reader than an historical account of the era. Ellis works to get us in the minds of the Founding Fathers as they struggled with the steps of breaking ground and building a revolutionary republic. During the period leading up to the Declaration of Independence, we see how individual rights came to be guaranteed by the Federal government rather than only the States. Later in the Valley Forge period, Washington and his officers came to see the budding nation as one entity and developed the "War of Posts" strategy, a Fabian approach that took advantage of the huge space available and wore the British down. In fact the concept of "space," both in terms of the large geographical territory and also separation from European conflicts and entanglements is one of the reasons for the success of the new nation. Upon the successful conclusion of the Revolutionary War, the argument of Federal versus States supremacy continued through the Constitutional Convention, Indian policy, the formation of political parties, and the Louisiana Purchase with the arguments unresolved. Although Ellis despairs over the failure to reach a lasting and just Indian treaty, the most harmful failure was the continuation and advance of slavery to new territories. Ellis theorizes that the preservation of slavery provided a powerful unspoken impetus for the States Right movement and the rise of the Jeffersonian Republicans. With the Louisiana Purchase, Ellis advances makes the point that the kindling to start the Civil War got its spark when the new territories were not closed to slavery. One chapter describes how Alexander Hamilton and James Madison collaborated on the Federalist Papers and efforts to ratify the constitution. That the Virginian Madison then joined Jefferson's camp seems to leave Ellis dissappointed and dismayed. Thomas Jefferson has taken quite a beating in recent years and "American Creation" continues the trend as Ellis believes his progressive ideas seemed to be for White people only. However, I am sure there are more sides to the story and will soon read a sympathetic Jefferson biography. Perhaps this is just a swing of the historians' pendulum and we will see rehabilitation in the future. I enjoyed "American Creation," and found it stimulating, but consider it just as much a series of "Op-Ed" pieces as history. Nevertheless, Ellis is an excellent writer and makes his case well.

What issues did the Founding Father face and how did they see and approach them? In "American Creation" author Joseph Ellis focuses on the setting, ideas, arguments, dilemmas, and solutions to some of the key issues that faced Founding Fathers during the early period from the 1775-1776 debates leading to the Declaration Independence up to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.The book is more of a lecture series or one-way conversation to the reader than an historical account of the era. Ellis works to get us in the minds of the Founding Fathers as they struggled with the steps of breaking ground and building a revolutionary republic. During the period leading up to the Declaration of Independence, we see how individual rights came to be guaranteed by the Federal government rather than only the States. Later in the Valley Forge period, Washington and his officers came to see the budding nation as one entity and developed the "War of Posts" strategy, a Fabian approach that took advantage of the huge space available and wore the British down. In fact the concept of "space," both in terms of the large geographical territory and also separation from European conflicts and entanglements is one of the reasons for the success of the new nation. Upon the successful conclusion of the Revolutionary War, the argument of Federal versus States supremacy continued through the Constitutional Convention, Indian policy, the formation of political parties, and the Louisiana Purchase with the arguments unresolved. Although Ellis despairs over the failure to reach a lasting and just Indian treaty, the most harmful failure was the continuation and advance of slavery to new territories. Ellis theorizes that the preservation of slavery provided a powerful unspoken impetus for the States Right movement and the rise of the Jeffersonian Republicans. With the Louisiana Purchase, Ellis advances makes the point that the kindling to start the Civil War got its spark when the new territories were not closed to slavery. One chapter describes how Alexander Hamilton and James Madison collaborated on the Federalist Papers and efforts to ratify the constitution. That the Virginian Madison then joined Jefferson's camp seems to leave Ellis incredulous. Thomas Jefferson has taken quite a beating in recent years and "American Creation" continues the trend as Ellis believes his progressive ideas seemed to be for White people only. However, I am sure there are more sides to the story. Perhaps this is just a swing of the historians' pendulum and we will see rehabilitation in the future. I enjoyed "American Creation," and found it stimulating, but consider it just as much a series of "Op-Ed" pieces as history. Nevertheless, Ellis is an excellent writer and makes his case well.

Ellis book is simply outstanding. He beautifully conveys a feeling of events without overburdening the reader with a lot of historical data. Where facts are necessary in the narrative, they are there. An exceptional accomplishment!

I read McCullough's 1776 after this book, and the letdown was considerable.

Together with the Civil War, the American Revolution continues to exert a great fascination for Americans. The historian Joseph Ellis has written many books making this period of our history accessible to lay readers. His most recent work "American Creation" is, in its scholarship and its lucidity, a thoughtful study of the founding of our nation.

The founding of the United States, for Ellis, occured in the 28-year period from 1775, with the shots fired at Lexington and Concord, and continued through the Louisiana purchase of 1803. But in a deeper sense, the process set in motion in these years continues to this day as Americans struggle and debate among themselves to understand, realize, and develop the government bequeathed by the Founders. Ellis argues that the American Revolution was unique in that it was a conservative, evolutionary process that resulted from a fortuitous combination of time, the Enlightenment era, and space, the large, apparently inexhaustible land mass of North America located far from the European powers. The evolutionary character of the Revolution, for Ellis, was the source of its stability and accomplishments, but it was also the source of its severe shortcomings in the perpetuation of slavery and in the treatment of Native Americans.

Ellis rejects the extremes in which the American Revolution has all-too-often been viewed. On one hand, he rejects viewing the Founders as iconic, larger-than-life figures somehow without the passions, weaknesses and blindnesses of ordinary mortals. On the other hand, Ellis also rejects a post-modernistic, highly critical assessment of the Founders which sees them as dead white males bound to their elite economic class and caring nothing for the rights of slaves, Indians, or women. For Ellis, the Revolution was the fortunate result of coincidence, opportunity, and genuine talent. The Founders, in their evolutionary approach to Revolution, improvised and temporized. They were remarkably successful, but at a price.

Ellis offers a narrative, story-like account of the American Revolution, a form that has been much-criticized by academic historians adopting an interest-based approach to historical writing. The four individuals Ellis considers to be most instrumental in bringing about the American Revolution are George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. He portrays these characters well throughout his narrative, with attention to their virtues, shortcomings, and idiosyncracies.

Ellis develops his theme through six chapters, each of which is short enought to be readable and detailed enough to avoid superficiality. The thread of the narrative -- the evolutionary nature of the American Revolution -- is sustained through each chapter with attention to the uniqueness of the individual historical events he describes.

Ellis discusses the beginnings of the war for independence which culminated in Jefferson's Declaration of Independence in 1776. He gives great weight to the writings of John Adams as well as to the famous "self-evident" truths Jefferson proclaimed which ultimately became the basis of the American vision. In the second chapter, Ellis describes the winter at Valley Forge and how it helped create both a military strategy and the basis of a nation. Ellis describes the Constitutional Convention and the ambiguities created in our founding document, with special attention to the role of James Madison and to Madison's debates with Patrick Henry in the Ratification Convention in Virginia. Chapter four considers early attempts during the Washington Administration to devise a humane Indian policy. Ellis reflects on how the structure of Federalism established by the Constitution helped to cause these attempts to fail. In chapter 5, Ellis discusses the beginnings of the two-party system in Jefferson's criticisms of Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists. Jefferson is roughly treated in Ellis's account. The final chapter describes Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which rested uneasily with Jefferson's own professed principles of limited government. This purchase was a climactic event, doubling the size of the United States, and irrevocably establishing the power of the national government. But it also laid the basis for the extension of slavery and for the Civil War.

In the opening chapter of this book, Ellis summarizes the accomplishments of the Revolutionary generation as including 1. a successful war for independence; 2. establishing a nation-size republic; 3.creating a secular state; 4. creating a government with divided sovereignties 5. creating political parties and providing a forum for organized dissent. The ambiguities and compromises of the Founders created a system that is fluid by its nature and that continues to be developed and argued about by subsequent generations.

Without minimizing the tragedies of the Revolutionary generation, Ellis explains well the origins of the American system of government and why it has been able to survive and develop. Ellis has written an excellent book which will help its readers understand their past and think creatively about their future.

Robin Friedman

The real triumph of Professor Ellis's new work is the close examination of key moments from the Nation's founding period in such a neat, succinct book.

While much of the material has been repackaged from other works, especially the prologue about the evolving process of the American Revolution, (see Gordon Wood's Revolutionary Characters, Jay Winik's The Great Upheaval among many others) other segments are more nuanced. The section about Valley Forge and its profound effect in shaping Washington's vision for a strong federal government and his support of an improbable Constitution is insightful. Additionally, the author provides compelling explanations for Madison's shift from staunch Federalist to resolute Republican. Another highlight is the section on the Louisiana Purchase in which Ellis reconciles Jefferson's grossly unconstitutional act of executive authority and his seemingly incompatible notions about a weak federal government.

In fact, a more accurate subtitle for this book might be Ironies of the Early American Republic. The triumph and tragedy theme seems forced and reminiscent of an unsuccessful bid for victory in the high school History Fair. Ellis focuses on Indian policy and slavery as the tragic acts of the Founders. While the Louisiana Purchase clearly established American economic dominance, but perpetuated slavery and Indian persecution, it is less useful to analyze the other events discussed in the book in terms of triumph and tragedy. In fact, Ellis's analogy about executive authority might well be applied to his adherence to the book's theme "it could expand or contract like an accordion, making the music required in different historical contexts." Although I do not usually appreciate the accordion, this book was enjoyable.

"American Creation" is a welcome continuation of "Founding Brothers" So if you enjoyed the latter, you will savor the former. "Creation" carries the same formula and extends from the Continental Congress to the Louisiana Purchase with emphasis on the handling of the problem of slavery and American Indian relations. Jefferson features prominently and some readers will find a bit of familiar ground previously introduced in "American Sphinx."

The great thing about Ellis' writing, in addition to his beautiful turns of phrase, is is his ability to get into the minds of the participants through thorough documentation and research and draw his conclusions thereby.

Highly recommended

Joseph J. Ellis is one of the best historians and authors of about the revolutionary period. Ellis uses his knowledge and his opinions to take a closer look at several events of the revolutionary period.

Ellis disects several events of the revolution. Background knowledge is necessary to get the most out of this book. The analysis is outstanding and Ellis gives great insights. This is a very good book to read to get a deeper understanding of the reasoning of the American Creation.

First, I can't say it better than another three-star reviewer who said Ellis was becoming a Consumer's Digest historian.

Take the slavery issue. Yes, Jefferson was a hypocrite, and yes, he deliberately pulled away from the fire during the Missouri Compromise process, but Ellis has nothing in between this time and the Louisiana Purchase about Jefferson's stance. Or Madison's, for that matter.

Another thing. If Jefferson and Adams are two of your four "featured Founders," why no discussion of their voluminous correspondence after the end of Jefferson's presidency?

Why the stinting on Adams in general, which makes the book read like it's about 3.5 Founders, not 4?

And, given that Hamilton is shown here is more than a foil, but a bete noir, for both Jefferson and Madison, why is he not included as a "fifth Founder"?

That said, without being "PC," Ellis does do a good job of removing Founders, especially Jefferson, probably the most overrated president in our country's history, from their pedestals. And, on things like the Founders' dealings with both slavery and American Indians, he may have percolated a desire in some readers to read more in depth in these areas.

Ellis set out to explain a handful of critical issues in the early development of the US -- events he thought critical, and some of those not obvious choices (perhaps the most contentious aspect of the work, given that the rest is largely factual recount with well-trod interpretation).

If you're interested in this topic and actively debate politics, the book relays quite a few conversational gems. Also, you can be assured the author's accreditation, a veritable brand in American history scholarship. If you value these things but also consider yourself tired of the rhetoric concerning the evils of slavery (if you're an 'enough already; tell me something else' history buff), this book will (nothing new) seem to dwell a tad much on that formative topic.

Ellis contributes nothing Earth-shattering. He has described, with astute, contextual awareness and a professor's selectiveness relative to the entire body of knowledge available, a small number of key historical events. What Mr Ellis considers most critical might bewilder some, but the choices are clearly considered decisions by a well-qualified historian writing for a mass market audience. Also, his choices respond to the concerns of present day Americans, which I find a bit dithering but (while reading) was willing to endure. Ellis's choices are perfectly square with many current day Americans' outrage over the perpetuation of slavery despite seemingly counter-intuitive language in the DofI and the Constitution as well as anguish over the treatment of Native Americans. As such, I worry there were likely other issues more important to the formative years that didn't make the cut because of their lacking vogue value today. So, I want to know WHAT happened, not WHY present-day Americans should forgive through understanding what happened. Make no mistake, however; Ellis does not fall prey to a leftist pandering mentality. He offers illustrious explanation and context for decisions made, with the air that you'd be as hard pressed to make them if then and there.

Also a little bothersome to me (and something Ellis cannot help) is that Ellis is becoming another Consumer's Digest of American history publishing, helping readers interpret a mess of facts through a very well-developed, well-honed lens; as if saying pay this $xx and avoid the stuff that doesn't matter. Ellis helps readers with a basic knowledge of American history who are thinking 'well, how does all THAT fit together' forge a meaningful interpretation of formative events, even if it's not their own interpretation. My concern is for those whose knowledge of the facts is limited to this text. That said, I still think the pop-history genre a good thing for readers.

So. Nothing controversial. Nothing really new. Just a thought-provoking selection of events and associated facts yielding a more nuanced understanding of a few select moments in US history -- the nuances comprising the earlier-mentioned conversational gems and the fundamental understanding a possible misgiving given the pre-filtered nature of the work and one's willingness to believe in its absolute importance given the growing Ellis brand.

Writing: The subtitle of the book is "Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic," and Ellis sticks with that theme as he reviews various episodes in the early US -- from the Revolutionary War to Louisiana Purchase -- to recount unexpected triumphs that made the US an unexpectedly viable republic, and the unquestionable tragedies (dealing with Indians east of the Mississippi and the issue of slavery) where the Founders were unable (or unwilling) to do what we feel is right.

The text is folksy and episodic, easy to listen to (even if sometimes Ellis overdoes his introductory and wrap-up sections in each chapter). His theme stands up without too much propping, and he manages to treat the Founders in a way neither "idolatrous nor iconoclastic."

Info: Nothing stood out as a glaring inaccuracy or distortion of history from my listening. Though each chapter is relatively short, Ellis manages to include a lot of information.

The seven "episodes" he details are: 1775, which marked a critical mass in the impulse toward independence; Washington at Valley Forge, shifting the war from a traditional European fight to a broadly dispersed insurgency that the British could not afford to fight; the Constitutional Convention, which set up a dynamic between state and federal sovereignties that still has an impact on modern US politics; the Treaty of New York with the Creek Indians, an attempt to establish a "just peace" with a large set of tribes that was doomed from the outset by American demography; the establishment of the (two) party system, which nobody claimed to want, but which quasi-conspiracies against demonized opponents made necessary; the Louisiana Purchase, which established American primacy on the continent, doomed the Indians, made inevitable the Civil War, and, ironically pushed through by Jefferson, spelled the beginning of the end for Jeffersonian states rights.

Of all of these, the Indian chapter is the most fascinating, and probably the least well-known to me, as Washington and Knox -- and the other Founders on the stage -- get to express their repeated desire to make something positive about relations with the Indians, and even go so far as to try to make treaties with them work, but fail due to political clashes and the rapid population growth of the American states.

Re-Listenability: The "small tales" nature of the book makes listening to it in chunks quite doable, and will make it more likely I'll come back to it again.

Audio: John H. Meyer provides a voice both folksily conversation and erudite. Pleasant to listen to, he works with Ellis to be telling a story to the reader, rather than the reader eking a story out of the page. Judging from some of the comments, he does a good job of turning some of Ellis' prose into a more enjoyable "listen."

Technically, okay, though some of the sound levels between recording breaks are off a bit.

Overall: A solid historical survey by Ellis. There are no tremendously new insights here, but it's a refreshingly entertaining review of the Founding period, and of the Founders itself. If there's anything to critiquie, it's that it is just a survey, sprinkled with tidbits of facts, whereas any of the individual chapters -- or people -- here could warrent (and have) full books of their own. But in touching on so many aspects of the Founding, Ellis does a good job in creating a bigger picture in which to examine the period and its players as a whole.

No matter what your opinion of Ellis may be, he is one of the best popular history writers out there. His contribution within his introduction to the discussion of how the Founding Fathers should be seen in American history is a must read for not only teachers/students of history, but most importantly the media talking heads. He pin points the faults and greatness of these men with an even hand, and futhermore, explores issues that are rarely if ever discussed when the question of Native-American and African-American treatment is discussed in terms of these men. His chapter dedicated to Washington at Valley Forge gives more insight not only to the Revolutionary War, but most importantly to the insights of Washington himself. The chapter devoted to Native-Americans and the Treaty of New York was enlightening to say the least. One can not help but read it and ask themselves "What If?" Many of the stories within the book have been told many times, but it is the context in which Ellis places them that makes this book a very useful tool especially for teachers who have struggled (like I have myself) with trying to find the middle ground between the greatness and the failures of these men.

But, the guys were bright enough to make the Constitution ambiguous enough to allow for future modification and interpretation on the issues they could not resolve. Two of the big ones were slavery and what to do about the Native Americans. Neither of those issues are yet resolved to full satisfaction, but maybe some day. After all, the women of the USA did eventually get the right to vote which was not available to women when the good old boys of the Founders did their thing at the onset of the American Creation...

On the heals of Founding Brothers by Mr. Ellis I was very much interested in American Creation. An excellent book with an admirable balance of historical fact, interpertation where appropriate and "I can't say" again, where appropriate.

Significant part of the book read like a novel. Beautifully written and admirably researched.

Dennis Landry
Fairfax Va.

....but Joe Ellis can go a long way toward correcting that. I was lucky; I was raised by parents who respected history, by a Dad who learned about the Civil War first hand, from his grandfather. Much of history is written WAY beyond the "normal" reader...check my reviews...some of those books get five stars, but with caveats. Joe Ellis writes history [all of it about the Revolutionary period], that is short enough not to be a burden, long enough not to be silly, deep enough that a history professor can learn from it, and understandable to any intelligent person. As in "Founding Brothers", Joe has not tried to be comprehensive...he has given us a series of "snapshots" of our early years, broken up into topical chapters. Joe even gets humor into the preface: during his book tour for "Founding Brothers", folks would ask him why the earlier generation got to choose between Adams and Jefferson, and our choices were Bush and Algore. He would courteously tell them that they had obviously not studied the campaign of 1800. AMEN...it was a disgrace. The various topics looked at were:

[1] "The Year"...1775...when the need for, and possibility of, independence, became apparent to a "critical mass" of influential people. Ellis makes the excellent point that America was never a one man show. Yes, Washington was central, but Adams, Jefferson, and Madison were almost equally central, and there was quite a supporting cast. Other countries...France, Russia, Cuba...have had revolutions dominated by one man, then gone to hell. We have survived, partialy because our nation was never wholly personified in one person.

[2] "The Winter"...at Valley Forge. We almost lost everything right there. Washington held it together by force of will, despite the Conway Cabal, despite disloyal local farmers, despite everything. But, with a big assist from Baron von Steuben.

[3] "The Argument"...over ratification of the Constitution. OK...we won...what do we do now? By 1887, it was apparent that the Articles of Confederation weren't working. A Constitutional Convention, chaired by Washington, was held in Philadelphia [in secret]. Madison, and others produced a federal compact, then sent it to the states. There, the REAL story was written; the Virginia debates, with Madison and Marshall on one side, and Patrick Henry [with help] on the other are the stuff of legend. Ratification won [barely], but Henry and George Mason were able to force a Bill of Rights into the picture. {Later, Henry became a big federalizer, and Madison went the other way, but that's another tale}.

[4] "The Treaty"...with the Creek Indians in 1790. The Indians went to New York, with much pomp, negotiated with Washington, Henry Knox, and Jefferson, and signed the "Treaty of New York". The Indians got the shaft. What else is new? Well, Joe is good enough to make the point that they brought much of it on themselves, and in the process introduces us to the book's closest approach to comic relief, Creek Chief Alexander McGillivray. [OK, Citizen Genet has comic aspects, too]. The Chief was a drunken, double-dealing, genius. Both sides violated the treaty before the ink was dry, and McGillivray got rich....

[5] "The Conspiracy"...by Jefferson and Madison that gave us our modern two-party system. The two founders took a trip to New England in 1791, and politics has never been the same. Till then, "parties" were seen as dishonorable. BUT, except for a minor spot of trouble between 1861 and 1865, we've managed to settle our differences peacefully. This MAY represent Jefferson's greatest gift to us.

[6] "The Purchase"....of Louisiana...Thomas Jefferson took office pledging to shrink the government, and save money. Instead, he gave us an "Empire of Liberty". The purchase [probably] violated the Constitution, but Jefferson played his cards to perfection, and grabbed a once-in-a-millenium opportunity. Of course, there was the minor problem of slavery, and the non-Republican administration of the new territory, but, hey......

Once again, Joe Ellis has given us an absolutely fabulous book. Buy it; more important, study it. We have a great country, and far too few understand how it got that way.

This book was written in the same format as the amazing "Founding Brothers," and while it is another excellent effort from Ellis, it's not quite at that same level. Not that many books are. Ellis takes some stories/events that led to the creation of the republic and describes them, including positives and negatives. It's more analytical that "Founding Brothers." My take is that after the first two chapters, this book takes off and offers an awful lot of good information in a quick-reading style that Ellis is known for. He pins a significant amount of blame on Jefferson for not stopping the spread of slavery after the Louisiana Purchase, and while I see his point, I don't completely agree. The one thing I wish this book had was one additional chapter on the War of 1812. He stops the book after the Purchase and indicates that was the final major event en route to the American creation. I believe that until the War of 1812 was resolved, the republic was not really secure, and since it was a founder who oversaw that war, it would have been the ideal place to conclude the book. Regardless, I enjoyed it very much.

Anybody who has read Joseph Ellis before knows how much research and analysis is put into his work. This book is no exception. A collection of narratives regarding a few of the most important episodes of our founding years, which includes a brief review of the war and the winter at Valley Forge, the debate over the Constitution, the creation of political parties, post war Indian affairs and the LA purchase. This was a good read, but I found his scholarly tone to sometimes be somewhat less 'accessible' unlike David McCullough which reads like a novel. I still enjoyed it and recommend this book to anybody and everybody interested in this generation of Americans and period of our history.

A clear explanation of the complex connections between The War of Independence, the Constitutional Convention, slavery, racism, The National Bank, development of party politics, the Louisiana Purchase, the real interests and motivations of the various founding fathers -- and how the Infant Republic's "evolutionary revolution" responded to all these challenges coming at it from all directions. Many mistakes were made but it survived and thrived

This work is especially descriptive of the apparently inescapable consequences of creating a union of states with disparate values, as well a a mutual desire to expand geographically, independent of the havoc created on the indigenous peoples.

While many of the "founding fathers" disapproved of slavery since this institution was fundamentally in disagreement with the principles upon which the war for independence was based, this did not deter them from compromising these principles in the need to form the initial union of 13 states. As is well known, this compromise, while apparently unavoidable at the time, ultimately resulted in a terrible civil war many years later, the aftermath of which is still apparent in many respects.

What was especially interesting to me was this book's description of the initial efforts of George Washington and others in the government to attempt to effect some sort of respect for the rights of the native Indian tribes to maintain ownership over there own land. In spite of these attempts by the early government leaders the uncontrollable push westward by white settlers eventually resulted in the near-holocaust destruction of most of the Indians. This hypocrisy remains a historical stain on our nation.

Another interesting point brought out by the author was the changing political views of the early government leaders, many of whom reversed there politics to suit the situation. Thomas Jefferson, for example, who claimed to be an anti-Federalist, probably assumed the greatest federal authority in our history when he authorized the purchase of the vast Louisiana Territory, an obvious coup of immeasurable importance.

"Creation", like "Founding Brothers" is an interesting mesh of both historic fact and historic opinion. Ellis is a good story teller and is able to make American History more accessible to the average reader as opposed to many of the more academic history books out there today.

I did feel however that "Creation" was a more ambitious project than "Founding Brothers" in the sense that he was covering a much broader topic and time span. Because of this, Ellis was lacking in detail when it came to many of his topics. Unlike "Founding Brothers", "Creation" seemed to move way too quickly through each story which made it seem that there was a large part of the story that was not written.

This is a fun book, and it does give a brief overview of events that lead to war and the creation of a new nation, but it comes up short in really explaining what was going on during that time and what lead to the decisions that were made. I understand that this would be difficult to do without producing an encyclopedia on American History, but for Ellis to try in a 300 page book was an impossible task. Ellis seems to take for granted that the person reading knows many of the historic facts in the story and just gives a short overview of what was happening and sometimes just one persons perspective on the situation. An example of this was the first story about the Declaration of Independence. Most of the viewpoint is that of John Adams and not that of any of the other participants in this process.

This is not a bad book by any means, I just think if falls short of its objective. It is a quick and fun read, but one should not look at this as being a complete view of the history of that time.

One final gripe, I feel that Ellis' use of the word propitious in his books and interviews has become overwhelming. I wish he would find another word or phrase. This word is used way too often and becomes an annoyance.

I won't bother the reader with a long review of the topics covered in the book. Ellis writes with real flair and obvious passion about the Revolutionary War, the heroes of the Constitutional Convention, and the problems they faced in creating a new government for the nascent nation.

Many things were quite opposite of the popular view of the Founders, especially these days. For example, Ellis disarms the idea that slavery was not a concern to the Founders, or that somehow many wanted the institution to continue with a frank discussion of the consequences of slavery. Actually, slavery was of tremendous concern, and many of the Founders wanted the institution ended. The tragedy of the Founders' accomplishment is that they were not able to end it at all without putting in place the ingredients of the Civil War. Furthermore, the difficulty in trying to reach a compromise with all the original thirteen colonies given the differences in status, population, and economic power is shown for what an extraordinary struggle it was. Finally, the Jefferson decision to exercise executive power to bring about the completion of the Louisiana Purchase is discussed as another interesting benchmark of federal and executive power. Given all that happened before Jefferson's term within the idea of the separation of powers, and the limitations of executive authority (something that is increasingly lost upon both the executive branch AND the American public at large) and one senses that Jefferson was indeed correct to worry about the results of his decision.

Truly, I would recommend this book without reservation to anyone with the slightest interest in early American history or the so-called American Revolution (given that nothing was really all that radical about it). Ellis has written a scholarly book that is not overly pedantic. Quite frankly, it is a pleasure to read for both scholars and gentlemen (and ladies too). Bravo, Mr. Ellis!

Joseph Ellis' examination of the events in the first twenty-eight years of the founding of America, between 1775 and 1803 explains the clash of armies, ideals, and personalities which culminated in the America we know. The book repeatedly stresses the fortuitousness of the outcome. At any turn that outcome might have been strikingly different, giving us an entirely different America. The government which those conflicts produced, and its principal governance document, the Constitution, comprise an equilibrium of ideals and governance theory which did not reflect those of any one founder. And the compromises required were anything but gracious. Ellis describes scores of bitterly contested issues, the charges of treason, and how some of the founders went to their graves believing that the misguided thinking of other founders would ultimately prove disastrous.

No American who reads this book will ever again take for granted the genius of the Constitution, or the personal freedoms which it preserves. Most particularly, no one can ever take for granted the dynamic tension between the will of the majority and the authority of the central government which our government uniquely balances.

In American Creation, Ellis also shows his craft with the written word which is so rare in historical reportage and which makes the book a pleasure to read: For Adams, the ultimate revolutionary moment came when the town meetings discussions of his May 1776 resolution "discovered whether the fruit of independence had sufficiently ripened within the people at large to permit a harvest." "The key insight, which went against all of Washington's personal instincts, was that both space and time were on the American side, so that the only way to lose the war was to try to win it." "The story of the Louisiana Purchase has as many twists and turns as the Mississippi itself, and the biggest challenge in retelling it is to avoid getting caught in the diplomatic backwaters..."

Ellis devotes particular emphasis to the inherent conflict between the libertarian ideals of the new republic and the emerging country's treatment of its native population and its slaves. The author shows the personal anxiety which the founders felt when opportunities came and passed to extend to these disenfranchised and vulnerable groups the human rights which seemed so inalienable to white men. Ellis concludes that notwithstanding their two deplorable failures, we may be proud of our founders, of the government they crafted, and of our remarkable and distinctive nation.

One of the best books on the beginning of our country, I have EVER read!! I bought 2 copies, one for my library and one for my young grandsons. I could hardly put it down. I can't insert a product link because I've lent my copy.

America was certainly the "child" of many patriots. It's a wonder that we are where we are today. We can certainly thank the British and all the many mistakes they made in the colonization of America. Lack of timely communications, lack of satellites and photo reconnisance, 3,000 miles of ocean, and a minimum of 60 days for a letter and answer all worked in the favor of the colonies to survive the dark days that led up to our revolution. But most importantly, I have a new respect for Samuel Adams. If anyone is truly the Father Of The Revolution, the first real American, etc., it was Samuel Adams. When you view what he did in context to when he did it and under what odds he labored, he is truly, in my opinion, one of the main reasons why we are America today. And he brews a fine draft while I am thinking about it.

Once again Joseph Ellis has proven that he is the master of writing about the early US republic. His knowledge, insights and clear expression make it a joy for us "non-historians" who love history, especially the history of our country. I await the next installment from him with eagerness. I devoured American Creation in record time. Thanks, Professor Ellis for all you books.

Joseph J. Ellis' tract record as one of this country's premier historical authors is extended even farther by American Creation. Like His Excellency: George Washington; or Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation; or even American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, American Creation will enlighten and inform anyone who reads it. You do not have to be a historian to enjoy the book.

Unlike earlier works, American Creation, is composed of separate essays that each look at a particular period or event relevant to the Revolution. Separate, but equal. Whether looking at the debate before the Declaration of Independence, the difficulty of Valley Forge, or the failure of the founding fathers to corral the issue of slavery, each essay becomes a focal point of study. How did each of these events effect ultimately the country we became?

Well researched, superbly written, American Creation is worth the time to read. If you like to spend time with the Notes section, you'll find plenty to study. I also recommend the Afterword.

Enjoy, I highly recomment American Creation.

A great book for those who are looking for a quite primer on the founding of America and its mistakes.

In the Forward, Mr. Ellis relates a question he was asked: why do we have to choose between Bush and Kerry when 200 years ago they could choose from Adams and Jefferson? I love that question because it captures very well the feeling today that we're faced with less than perfect choices whereas the men who founded this nation are regarded essentially as "demigods." And while Ellis acknowledges his admiration and awe at what the Founding Fathers accomplished, he also realizes that they were just as human as we are today; imperfect and succeptible to failings, but who nonetheless arose to the occasion and created something truly great.

And this is an approach to history that I appreciate - neither idolizing nor condemning. Chapter 1 covers many of the contributions John Adams made to the revolution and the Declaration of Independence. Chapter 2 covers the strategy Washington was forced to take in fighting a far superior enemy, and the difficulties his army faced at Valley Forge. Chapter 3 discusses James Madison's contributions to the Constitution. Chapter 4 tells of Washington's attempts at a treaty with the Indians. Chapter 5 returns to Madison and Jefferson and the beginnings of a two-party political system. And chapter 6 talks about Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase, and how it played into the practice of slavery and doomed the nation to eventual civil war.

Mostly a very entertaining book, although a few parts drag occasionally. The main theme of the chapters/essays is that the founding of the nation was an "evolutionary revolution" which happened over about 25 years. The men who accomplished this were not perfect, often obsessed with their legacy and jealous of each other, but nonetheless created a form of government unlike no other. Their failures were in not dealing fairly with the Indians or resolving the issue of slavery. In the end, our seemingly less-than-ideal choices today probably aren't very different than those 200 years ago, except that the situation has changed.

This is my new favorite book on the creation of America. From the American Revolution, to the Louisiana Purchase. Despite the broad range, Ellis paints a picture with stories I never heard, and insights I never though of.

What I particularly loved was how Ellis painted the founding fathers as genuine people... flawed, yet still remarkable. They were mindful of their place in history, but never felt that their fortune was due to superior wits, superior patriotism, or even destiny. Washington remarked many times that when people tell the tale of the founding of the republic, that everybody would certainly report it incorrectly... because it was so utterly improbable, than nobody would believe the true story!

Many people think there was a grand plan behind the country, which maliciously left many people out. The founders -- Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, and Madison -- were men improvising on the eve of destruction. There was no plan... they did the best they could to try to hold the colonies together: maximize liberty, and minimize tyranny. Their gift to the world was a complex, jumbled system: one where politicians will bicker, special interests will curry favor, and states will compete with the federal government over who gets the final say... but nevertheless, its a system that will slowly create something better.

They knew their legacy was tainted... slavery was an abomination, but the country couldn't hold itself together without it. Jefferson refused to be happy about the Louisiana purchase, because he knew colonial settlers would force natives off their land... nevertheless, they did something remarkable. The first country-sized republic. The first modern secular state. The ability to criticize your leaders, without fear of getting your head lopped off. The first revolution, perhaps the only one ever, that came with a group portrait...

Some say its more correct to call it the American Evolution, not revolution. I like that... it gives me hope that even if the system fails from time to time, it will eventually create something even better...

Very enjoyable. Highly recommended, even if you're not a Revolutionary War buff.

Joseph J. Ellis is a premier writer of American history. The Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College, he has won the Pulitzer Prize (FOUNDING BROTHERS) and the National Book Award (AMERICAN SPHINX). The historical landscape he surveys in his latest work is nothing less than the entire crafting of the new American nation, before, during and after the Revolution.

No portion of the book better defines the character of the leadership of the United States in its infancy than that which details "The Treaty" between white Americans and the native peoples then known as Indians. As Ellis sagely comments, whereas Great Britain would go on to further conquest and domination in the world theater, the other losers in the American Revolution, the Indian tribes, would have no "second act."

"The British defeat triggered a tidal wave of western migration on the part of settlers who understood the phrase 'pursuit of happiness' to mean owning their own land." This would require the absolute conquest of the Indians wherever found. It was incumbent on three people to act on behalf of both the Indian tribes and the white settlers: President George Washington, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of War Henry Knox. They had no intention of removing the Indians, because, as Ellis puts it, "revolutionary fires still burned inside them and they knew, deep down, that Indian removal was incompatible with the republican values they cherished." Washington brooded that failure to solve the Indian problem would be a permanent stain on his reputation and bode ill for the new republic. Jefferson, more than any of the others, believed Indians to be equal to whites but for their culture.

Together, this triumvirate attempted to shape a model for future generations by making a firm treaty with the Creek tribe of Mississippi that was led by a racially mixed and diplomatically savvy chief by the name of McGillivray. McGillivray had no reason to trust the whites, as he and his people had seen treaties broken since the incursion of Europeans onto American soil. But after lengthy negotiations, the Treaty of New York was duly signed, and the Creeks sang a song of "perpetual peace." This treaty, like all others, proved unenforceable; Washington decried the "land jobbers" who, in their zeal for territory, constantly broke over into the newly delineated Creek homeland. McGillivray went for help to the Spanish, thus exacerbating the conflict on America's southwest border.

Ellis points out that one failing of the Treaty of New York was that it was a "top-down" operation engineered by Washington, Knox and Jefferson, the sort of fiat that heretofore had been reserved for monarchs. For that reason, if no other, it was unsustainable.

AMERICAN CREATION traces with fine lines the earliest stirrings of democratic thinking that led to the formation of our government. The congressional representatives had to contend with the argument that they, by their aristocratic heritage, were in danger of ignoring the men who wore "leather aprons" --- and Abigail Adams was only too pleased to remind them that they ignored women at their peril. Her gentle admonition "Remember the ladies" was no doubt a constant and considerable irritant. Nor did it help that an anonymous letter was received by John Adams in 1775 asking, "Whot has the negros the africans don to us that shuld tak them from thar own land and mak them sarve us to the da of ther deth?" --- and pointing out that "the gentelman that leads the army" was a slaveholder. It was Abigail who succinctly queried, "If we separate from Great Britain, what code of laws will be established?"

That "code of laws" and its establishment are the essence of this artfully conceived and finely researched book, which strives like no other to present the American founders as human beings engaged together in an exciting workshop of ideas --- ideas with living and lasting consequences. Partly because the founders were unable to deal adequately with certain issues such as slavery and the Indian question, or with the proper balance between federal and states rights, Ellis contends, "The very purpose of government was subtly transformed from an ultimate arbiter to a framework for ongoing argument." This left room for great leaders to follow, new solutions to be sought and found --- and further argument.

--- Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott

His hitorical insight is valuable.
Unfortunately his writing is bloated and clumsy.
It's quite a trudge to get to the nuggets.

Worth suffering through the read. Where was his editor?

Perhaps it's presumptuous for an Australian to become sceptical about the way the given narrative describes the principal characters and events in North America from 1775 to 1803, but after a visit to the historic cities and sites last year I came home wanting to peek behind the facade to learn why they chose each a particular course of action, why there was so little publicly displayed dissent between them , how they managed to maintain the moral high ground while ignoring the contradictions of slavery and the place of the pre European inhabitants. Mr. Ellis has explained all those queries to my satisfaction in beautiful, lucid prose without hyperbole or evasion.

When I purchased "American Creation" I made a mistake and ordered two books on much the same subject. This book I read first. This is an important book for non-Americans especially those who live in former British colonies. The author is careful to point out that the British were determined not to make the mistakes they made in administering their American colonies a subject he alludes to on a number of occasions. Because I live in Australia there are many other political similarities between the United States and Australia and this book gives a valuable insight into political thinking of 18th century which is relevant to my country. While I expect that many of the events described in the book are very familiar to Americans the issues they faced in the 18th century deserve to be better known outside America. I would recommend this book to people like me who live in former British colonies.

Have you ever wondered by the founding fathers failed to address the two issues of native assimilation and chattel slavery into the organic laws of the new American nation? Joseph J. Ellis, award winning historical author has provided background and lucid reasoning, through his research, for these elemental questions.

The book tells of a series events which collectively framed our nationhood and then resulted in inevitable conflicts over those two issues mentioned above. Ellis particularly offers an unknown chapter in history concerning the first-ever negotiated treaty with a native American nation, the Creeks, which would have provided for a peaceable settlement of the lands east of the Mississippi for the relentless tide of white emigrants, and the lands west of the Mississippi for the relocated natives. President Washington and Secretary of War, Henry Knox, sought a model conciliation with Alexander McGillivray, the Creek leader. This segment of our history is fresh and offered a perspective redolent with possibilities for peace and coexistence.

Ellis' prologue and epilogue are my favorites stating and restating the elements covered. This book is definitely worthwhile; in fact, I recommend it be reread and revisited frequently.

Joseph Ellis, along with David McCullough (John Adams) and Ron Chernow (Alexander Hamilton) has sparked deep interest in early American history. Their best selling books have illuminated the lives and achievements of the founders and educated us in ways that survey courses in college never could. Each has brought scholarship and enlightenment to the American history reading public. Ellis with his deep knowledge of the founders confronts the issue of slavery, the treatment of the native America Indian and the fascinating facts behind the Louisiana Purchase. More importantly, he describes the intellectual and political struggle for a democratic government as an evolving ideal and how that struggle in all its fits and starts became embodied in the American two party system and our federal government. While not downplaying Jefferson, Ellis' spotlight shines on Jefferson's sidekick, James Madison, as a founder surely worthy of the next best selling history blockbuster. This masterful book is to be saved, savored and re-read as its succinctness belies its importance and wealth of knowledge. Ellis recently appeared on C Span promoting his book in California. His eloquence and deep understanding of early American history as well as his humor and good spirits makes one desirous of slipping into one of his lectures in Amherst for a semester or two.

Excellent work from a very good author, probably the best I have read on this period in our history.

it is hard to believe his editors didn't correct it.

He wrote the book in 2006 and early 2007 and makes the improper analogy between America's (then) recent experience in Iraq and the British occupation and invasion of America. Well, dear Mt. Holyoke professor and resident of Amherst, things have changed quite a bit since you wrote those words.

Pres. Bush put Gen. David Petraeus in charge and a new strategy was implemented.

It is working. Working incredibly well.

I won't belabor all the other historical and factual problems of comparing the British invasion of the American colonies with the liberation of Iraq - along with crushing the jihadists - by our military. The geographic size differences alone make the analogy laughable. There are too many other problems with the analogy to list.

And what's with this business of adopting John Kerry's (rich loser gigolo, MA) slander that the enlisted men of our military had no better choice than to go to Valley Forge?

I don't care if someone was the "dregs of society" in 1778, they still had a choice and didn't have to enlist to face possible death in war. The "average dreg" of 1778 could have chosen to hang out in a pub and suck down ale with a roof over his head rather than live at Valley Forge.

Really, give us a break.

And these two obvious mistakes and horrible errors of judgment affect the author's credibility in what otherwise would be a good book.

Joseph J. Ellis' American Creation is loaded with his own opinions with some facts sprinkled in for good measure. I don't know where the author was born and raised but the cover flap says he is living in Massachusetts so I assume he is from the New England area. Maybe that would account for his prejudice against Southern Founders like Jefferson and Madison.
You can purchase this book at a local Walmart store and that should tell you somehing right there!

If I have to recommend one book about 18thy century America, it would be Joseph Ellis's brilliant, Pulitzer Prize winning Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. In "Brothers", Ellis used a series of events and themes in order to reflect on the character of 8 main American Founders, and on various themes of the American Revolution. Not only is Ellis's book beautifully written, it weaves together a large scale analysis of the main ideological and political aspects of the American Revolution with a careful study of the personalities involved. In short, it is a tour de force, and one that had a special effect on me since I read it while touring Philadelphia, and seeing first hand the various sites where Washington, Jefferson and the rest of founders quarreled and worked to shape their vision of America.

In "American Creation", Ellis, a historian and a Founder-biographer (he has written well received biographies of John Adams, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson) returns to the style of "Founding Brothers" for six more episodes focusing on the "Triumphs and Tragedies" of the American Revolution. Ellis is still a graceful writer and an insightful historian, but as they say, you can't catch a lightning in a bottle twice; "American Creation" is a very good but imperfect history, which treads on grounds familiar from Ellis's and other historian's other writings. When Ellis approaches what is mostly new ground for him (That is, stuff that he hasn't written about in Founding Brothers or in his biographies of Washington and Jefferson, he might have written about it elsewhere), his account is interesting but fails to offer the kind of comprehensive view that made "Founding Brothers" so compelling.

Of the six episodes, four return to a dominant theme of "Founding Brothers": the clash between `The Spirit of `76', that is, the libertarian and radical ideology of Tom Paine and the declaration of Independence, and the `Spirit of `87' - the pragmatic, centralist belief in a strong Federal government that would protect the American experiment. In his discussion, Ellis doesn't merely recapitulate themes raised in "Founding Brothers" but rather demonstrates how these themes played out in different contexts.

The first chapter, "The Year", focuses on the 15 months between the commencement of hostilities between Continental and Imperial British troops and the declaration of Independence. Ellis's main theme is that at the time, even the radical American leaders were actually conservatives: they may have used extremist "rights of man" language, but their purpose was a conservative revolution, a struggle for political power and independence and not a utopian restructuring of the world. Ironically, it has been their triumph that promoted the values which they later tried to reign in.

The third chapter "The Argument" focuses on the creation of the Constitution of the United States of America. After releasing the radical ideology from the bottle in the Revolution, the Federalists such as Madison, Hamilton and Washington had been appalled of the results. Fearing the spread of anarchy and the eventual collapse of the American Experiment, they have pushed forward a qualified counter revolution - moving power from the states to the central government, and bringing forward a more consolidated government, with a more powerful executive to form, hopefully, a more perfect union. Here the irony is in the shifting views of James Madison. Madison entered the Constitutional Convention of 1787 as the nationalist's nationalist, and bitterly resented having to water down his centralized conception of America. But while pressing for the ratification of the American Constitution, Madison discovered that the compromises he had been forced to make in the convention saved him during ratification, in which he defended the American Constitution as not all that centralized, after all.

Madison's change of heart plays a central place in the fifth chapter "The Conspiracy", in which he breaks away from his one time Federalist collaborators, and becomes a leader of the first American opposition party along with Thomas Jefferson. This chapter is the closest to "Founding Brothers", and readers of the latter would find very little that is new. Novices to Ellis may be surprised by his vehement anti-Jeffersonian attitude, which remains more or less unchanged.

The final chapter, "The Purchase", offers another ironic twist in the plot: The anti-Federalist Republican party, led by Thomas Jefferson, has captured the presidency. Yet in it's time of greatest triumph it betrayed its principles. In one of the most brazen act of Executive initiatives in American history, Jefferson purchased Louisiana from Napoleon, thus doubling the size of the American republic, and leading the way to the triumph of the American Empire, as well as to its major tragedies: the spread of slavery and the destruction of the native Americans.

The second chapter is the least interesting, offering an account of Washington's stay in Valley Forge. This chapter focuses on the American War of Independence and it the weakest because the war had been only a part of a larger scale conflict between the major world powers of the day, primarily Britain and France. By focusing only on America, Ellis offers a distorted view of the war, and his analysis of military strategy is not insightful enough to compensate.

The most intriguing and frustrating chapter is the fourth, chronicling the efforts of the first Washington administration to find a just solution to the problem of the native Americans. The main weakness here, I think, is that unlike the other topics of American history, this has been relatively scantly investigated; Thus the conceptual tools for addressing it are lacking. Basically, Ellis offers a convincing picture of the destruction of native Americans as more or less inevitable: white settlers would not obey any treaty limiting their spread, and the Federal government had neither the strength nor the will to oppose them. "Indian Removal" was the necessary consequence of demographics.

"American Creation" is a fascinating and extremely well written book; I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in American history: but if you haven't, read "Founding Brothers" first.

"American Creation" by Joseph Ellis is very similar to his past work in "Founding Brothers" -- a collection of stories centered around a main theme. Ellis continually reflects back on this theme while applying it to each of the six chapters, that being that the Revolutionary period really extended to 1803 through the incredibly fragile stages of the new government when it seemed likely it would collapse in on itself.

Which of the six topics you enjoy the most really depends on where your historical interests are, because they are all very similar in format, and Ellis tries his hardest using a casual writing style to keep the reader's attention. Personally, I was most interested in the chapters on Valley Forge and the birth of the two-party system, but all six had an effect on me in some way. The description of George Washington's attempts at a side-by-side living situation with the Creek Indians was informative and tragic in the end, and the circumstances behind the Louisiana Purchase and how this one acquisition by the government spelled doom for any resolution of both the slavery and Indian issues was fascinating.

One of the author's main ideas is that most historical studies on the Founding Fathers either portray them as gods or as failures. Ellis sets out to go up the middle and focus on both their triumphs and their tragedies, as the title indicates. Arguably most triumphant are George Washington and James Madison, the latter for his work in getting the Constitution ratified and saving post-war America from pulling apart into separate confederacies. On the other hand, Thomas Jefferson comes off the most tragic for his inability to stem the tide of slavery despite his recognition that it violated every revolutionary principle the founders fought for and would probably be settled in the future by civil war. Ellis contends however that the issue of slavery was so tense that even broaching the subject publicly could sabotage the union before it rose to its feet -- which explained why many went so far as to never even put it down on paper, choosing not to risk having their opinions go public at the present or taint their reputations in the future.

This book is a strong complement to more general works on the Revolutionary Era, but is not a good place to start. Each chapter is relatively short, largely due to the fact that Ellis assumes the reader is already familiar with much of the background issues in each story. There were times where I wish Ellis would have expanded the chapters a bit further so that more of the essential parts of the period were explored and detailed. Instead, Ellis sacrifices details on much of the background so that he may sharpen the focus on the main players.

This is an interesting book. While Ellis quotes many letters and documents, a discerning reader will find it hard to tell what is opinion and what is fact as he slips from one to the other without notice. The lines are not well drawn. Still, it's a good read if you don't tend to allow the author to form your views for you.

I have read two chapters of this book and I have to ask: does anybody edit books like this? Ellis writes like an 11th grade student. He can't make a statement without and adjective or adverb and he can't pass up lovely metaphors like this: "Before we enter the electromagnetic field that continues to envelop both of these questions..." This book is almost unreadable. Somebody send this man a Strunk and White.

In this work, Ellis reprises his role in "Founding Brothers" as historical sketch artist. The two books are so similar, "American Creation" reads almost like a sequel. Same format, sames style, same glimpses of important moments. Compared to "Founding Brothers", which I enthusiastically recommend as an introduction to the study of this era, "Creation" comes up a bit short. Ellis really tries to have it both ways: the brief, breathtaking sketches of "Brothers" combined with a more analytical work like perhaps "American Sphinx". Ellis doesn't fail outright, but readers looking for one or the other may be slightly disappointed. The stories frankly aren't as interesting as those found in "Brothers", and the analysis feels somewhat cramped in less than 300 pages.

However, Ellis still manages to put together a very readable and interesting work. One can read "Creation" and come away with a very accurate sense of the way the Founders actually were. (Ellis has written at least three separate biographies of Founders and Framers, so the reader can expect him to be familiar with his subjects). The writing flows smoothly and the bits of analysis that are gleaned are quite interesting. This book will teach the reader something new, for sure.

One minor note: typical to his style, Ellis writes modern-day metaphors and comparisons into the work at a maddening rate. In his zeal to make his history neat, clean, and applicable to today, Ellis perhaps overreaches. Such is Ellis' style, but it doesn't detract greatly from the work.

All in all, an entertaining and thoughtful read, though not completely necessary for the Revolutionary bookshelf.