What are the best books on American History & Founding Fathers?

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Drjones

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Hi all.

Thanks to this board, I've become increasingly interested in the history of our nation's founding as well as the men responsible for it.

There are so many people here who are so knowledgeable about these topics that I'd like to know what books in particular you can recommend to me.

One that is on my list is "Founding Brothers" by Joseph Ellis. Is that a worthwhile read? My boss has it on CD and I've listened to a few tracks and it sounds very good.

Thanks in advance for the recommendations!
Drjones
 
Founding Brothers is excellent.

It helps bust many of the myths of American history about these men -- what I like to call American Mythory 101. It doesn't sugar coat who they were, or what they were.

Also very good, and in the same vein, is Langguth's "Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution."

Another excellent book is John Adams by David McCullough. It helps get at the heart of a truly under appreciate Founding Father.

There's an older book that's a compilation of the letters that John and Abigale Adams wrote to each other, but I'll be darned if I can remember who the compiler was.

John Alden's "George Washington, a biography" is a very good read. Not as in depth as some, but still gives a good picture of the man. I felt that it did gloss over Washington's vanity a bit, though, and how much Washington's wounded sense of pride drove him during the Revolution.

Of course there's Benjamin Franklin's autobiography.

Richard Hofstader wrote an interesting social hisotry of colonial America. I had to read it in one of my American History classes in college. Interesting stuff.

Here's one that's on my reading list, if for no other reason than the author won two Pulitzer prizes for her historical writing -- Barbara Tuchman's "A View of the American Revolution."

You should also step ahead a few years and read Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America." It gives an outsider's view of American democracy as it had shaped up in the first and second generation after the Revolution, and after the last of the Founders and Framers had passed away.
 
One of the most informative books I've ever read was "Madison's Notes from the Constitutional Convention". It's a day-by-day account of what was done and said, and it has probably influenced my thoughts on the intended, limited scope of the federal government more than any other thing I have read, including the Anti-Federalist Papers (which are another good source).

I haven't really spent a lot of time studying the men who put this all together, to be honest. Maybe I should fix that, eh?
 
Get and read the constitution itself, fer starters. Good a place as any I can think of. Look at specifically the limitations placed on the federal government as deliniated therein. Question anything further happening through their "legilslative powers."

Then, get the Federalist & Anti-Federalist Papers (two books on the constitution from different points of view) prior to its ratification.

T Payne's Common Sense is worthwhile.
 
I like an older book on Adams.
"John Adams and the American Revolution," by Catherine Drinker Bowen.

You will probably have to find it in used books stores but it is worth looking up.
 
Doc,

as a good background to reading books specifically about the FFs, try Dinesh D'Souza's What's So Great About America . A great exposition on the American ideal, and how to properly understand her imperfections.
 
James Madison, Last of the Founding Fathers by Drew McCoy

Anything BY Ben Franklin; not to be confused by things written about him.

Jefferson's Notes on Virginia should be an interesting read.
 
Khornet:

Thanks for the suggestion, but I've already read it. It was a fantastic book, and I actually need to read it again.

I have a couple other books by D'Souza, and they seem pretty good, though I prefer Sowell and Buchanan. :)


Merry Christmas!
Drjones
 
How about reading their own, that is the founding fathers own writings? Anything by Madison or Jefferson. Washington has some interesting writings in his own right, and Franklin.

Daniel Webster is a good read also.

Read Sandburg's Lincoln.

the original Federalist Papers
 
Wow, lots of good suggestions on here. I was thinking the Federalist Papers would be a good place to start, but I plan on taking some of the suggestions offered here. I agree about Thomas Sowell. The man is a pure genius.
 
Online E-libraries

Go to http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/18th/ . Click on the "History" link. About one-fourth down is where the American History section starts but you want to also investigate the General Resources section at the top of the page. About two-thirds down there is a section "American Historical Figures" where you can find plenty of info on Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine, William Penn, Paul Revere, George Washington, and Daniel Webster.

There is also Project Gutenberg at http://www.gutenberg.net/index.shtml which contains thousands of books that have been transcribed for downloading or reading from the web for free. Read about Project Gutenberg and how you may help in this noble venture at http://promo.net/pg/ .

There are many historical tomes there and the site is fully searchable. Example:
You searched for: Author: Tocqueville.

Searched for whole words only.

3 Record(s) Matching Your Query Found.

American Institutions and Their Influence
by Tocqueville, Alexis de et al
Released: Aug 2005

Democracy In America -- Volume 1
by Tocqueville, Alexis de
Released: Feb 1997

Democracy In America -- Volume 2
by Tocqueville, Alexis de
Released: Feb 1997
Click to expand...
The release date is the date the work was transcribed.

Once you get a result, you can also search on subject. Example (Democracy In America -- Volume 1):
Project Gutenberg Bibliographic Record

Data Title: Democracy In America — Volume 1

Author: Tocqueville, Alexis de

Author Additional: Reeves, Henry, 1813-1895, Translator

Language: English

Subject: United States -- Politics and government

Subject: United States -- Social conditions

Subject: Democracy

LoC Class: Political science
Political inst. and pub. Admin.: United States

Release Date: Feb 1997

Etext number: 815
Click to expand...
Clicking on "Politics and Government" will return 66 results, most of which will be of interest to you.
 
Last edited:
The Radicalism of the American Revolution
by Gordon S. Wood

Washington: The Indispensable Man
by James Thomas Flexner

The First Salute/a View of the American Revolution
by Barbara W. Tuchman
 
Hello!

IMHO, one cannot talk about AMERICAN HISTORY;
without the acknowledgement of the Viet-Nam War.
The brave men (and some women) you lived, fought,
and died in those dreaded jungles of southeast Asia.
A period of time when this country was divided; and
returning U.S. troops were looked down on as
"Baby Killer's".

So with that said, the one book that I would recommend
without a shadow of a doubt would be:

Stolen Valor - How The Viet-Nam Generation Was Robbed Of Its Hero's And History

A good read, with lots of first hand, never before published
information.

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member
 
Never Before In History: America's Inspired Birth
By Gary Amos and Richard Gardiner

This book was originally designed as a 10th grade textbook but never received NEA endorsement because of it's charactorization of the effects christianity had on the founding of the nation.

I just checked amazon and they want $114.70 :eek: for this book!!! Gads, I paid less than $25 by ordering it from the author.

http://www2.pitnet.net/primarysources/never.html
 
Another good book is Tacts of the American Revolution 1763 - 1776 edited by Merrill Jensen. It is a collection of 17 pamphlets and editorials that shaped the debate prior to the Declaration of Independence. There is nothing quite like reading, the founders words, to understand their position.
 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...002-4257764-1420035?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Hologram of Liberty by Boston T. Party is one of my favorites, one of those history books that they dont want you to read. It helps shatter the myths surrounding the Founding Fathers that have been built up into a near religion.

- The 55 delegates at the convention (can you name them all?) were not perfect and they were certainly not gods.

- The Constitution is not the perfect document it is touted to be, or why are you complaining that the govt is tyrannical and it's BS that you cannot own certain kinds of weapons?

- The "Constitutional Convention" was not called to decide on a new Constitution at all, but rather 'for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation'. What legal authority did any of the delegates have in remaining there when a completely new Constitution was proposed?
 
I'm gonna drag my own thread OT.

Anyone have any comments about the book that Glock Glockler recommended? It seems quite interesting, but perhaps a bit tinfoil-hattish.

Here's what one reader posted on amazon:

The Constitution that we live under was originally intended to be a document that would provide the cracks from which the waters of tyranny would ooze. The Hamiltonian Centralizers purposely provided us with a document that would destroy true Federalism (decentralization) and exalt the notion of a highly centralized form of Republican tyranny. The "Anti-Federalists" were the TRUE Federalists, and the "Federalists" were actually anti-federalists when the meaning of such is taken in its proper context.

Boston T. Party deflates the wet dreams of the Parchment Worshippers. The Constitution actually went through numerous re-writings so as to pave the way for later interpretations that would grant ultimate power to a Central Machine. The Articles of Confederation should have been left to stand.
Click to expand...

Comments on this book?
 
having read a lot of independent amer. history, I can't find much wrong with BTP's Hologram of Liberty. Basically it goes into some manner of detail about what went on during the period of the founding of this country. Hamilton and his ilk couldn't get the central government they wanted when the country was founded, so they laid mines in the constitution that could have been exploited by more 'flexible' interpretations. For example, the elastic clause, interstate commerce clause, the 'militia' clause in the 2A. My only critique of the book are the pages when he goes into 'Sovereign' stuff, WHO CARES about the difference between "United States of America" and "united States of America". If you can get past that and temper your enthusiasm for the "founding lawyers" then you'll probably like the book.

atek3
 
One of the best, in my opinion....

Angel in the Whirlwind: The Triumph of the American Revolution by Benson Bobrick. It may not be the overall most informative or most comprehensive book, but it certainly helps you understand that this country of ours HAS to be some kind of miracle.

This is not a religious book - not at all, but it describes how a rag-tag army that lost more battles than it won, beat the world's most powerful military force of it's day, and then the remaining civilian leaders created the first real government of it's kind in the history of the world, where it remains the oldest government (in writing) of it's kind in the world today.

It restores the tingle in your spine when you see the flag pass in review and hear the Star Spangled Banner.

Go to Amazon and take a look.
 
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