Ellis reveals that Jefferson's strength was his ability to govern through duplicity, and that the founding of our great country was more due to amazingly-good fortune than divine intervention, i.e., right place (lots of space) and good timing (the reign of King George III).

The narrative format of this enlightening book lends itself well to listening. The audio book is read well by John H. Mayer. ( )

Having read biographies of Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Hamilton and Vidal’s quasi-fictional work on Burr, in addition to other works by McCollough on the revolutionary era, I was far from impressed by the beginnings of this work by Joseph Ellis. You can only rehash the same history from every conceivable angle before the story grows stale.

Fortunately, however, only the first third of this audiobook dealt with the period of 1775-1782. Thereafter, the story turns to the often neglected period after 1782, in which the fledgling republic, struggling under the inadequate Articles of Confederation is dragged, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the Constitutional era. Ellis chooses to make James Madison the hero of this story (perhaps electing not to challenge some of the outstanding biographers of other luminaries). Certainly, Madison is a worthy subject, though arguably no more influential than Hamilton or Jefferson.

After dealing quite well and extensively with the creation and adoption of the Constitution, Ellis moves on to the very worthwhile history of the fledgling Republic’s troublesome dealings with the various Indian tribes located between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic colonies. Another period of history not frequently dealt with, but well worth the effort and well covered by Ellis.

Finally, Ellis turns to the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson, focusing on the Louisiana Purchase, what he considers the final definitive act in the founding of the American republic. There is some excellent analysis concerning the hypocrisy displayed by Jefferson, not just over the issue of slavery, but the stunning acts of federal power wielded by the face of Republicanism.

As stated above, the first third of the story is a familiar rehash of the Revolutionary War period; nothing much new to offer. Thereafter, however, Ellis takes on the succeeding twenty years, a time in which the fledgling republic was very fragile, held together almost exclusively by the reputation and will of one man, George Washington. With Washington’s exit, the rise of party politics led to repeated clashes between advocates of state’s and personal rights (republicanism) and advocates of power concentrated at the federal level (federalism). This fascinating interplay and the analysis provided by Ellis make this a worthy investment of your time. ( )

American Creation is the latest book by Joseph J. Ellis, best known as the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Founding Brothers. The subtitle of his new book is Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic, and he attempts to show how the signal failures of the Founders—namely, the failure to resolve the issue of slavery or to reach an accommodation with the Native Americans—were bound up with their successes in achieving Independence and establishing a stable government under the Constitution. In six chapters, he covers the year leading up to the Declaration of Independence, the winter at Valley Forge, the fight to ratify the Constitution, the failed treaty with the Creek nation, the origins of the two-party system in Jeffersonian opposition to the Federalist establishment, and the Louisiana Purchase. The focus is on Great Men—Washington, Madison, Jefferson—and the ways in which they responded to and shaped events, the ways in which their personalities and prejudices (especially in the case of Jefferson) influenced the course of American history. It's old-fashioned history as the story of Great Men, and most of the stories have been told many times before, but Ellis (a professor at Mt. Holyoke) is an engaging storyteller, and does a good job of emphasizing the overarching themes and long-term consequences of the stories he tells. He doesn't gloss over the Founders' flaws, and figures like Jefferson are all the more compelling for being revealed to have blind spots nearly a continent wide. (Ellis has dealt with Jefferson before, in his National Book Award-winning American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson.) For me, the most interesting chapter was the one on Washington's failed attempt to craft a fair and humane Indian policy that would reflect the principles of the Revolution and be a credit to his legacy. The story was less familiar to me, as were some of its main characters: Washington's secretary of war Henry Knox and Creek tribal leader Alexander McGillivray. Washington and Knox attempted to craft a top-down federal policy that would protect Native Americans, but Jefferson understood that there was no stopping the westward advance of white settlement—what became known as "manifest destiny." Although Ellis is writing Great Men history, he doesn't lose sight of the fact that ordinary people in search of land and homes were, for good or ill, powerful forces in shaping American history.

In the past decade, the Founders have been hot, and all of the best-known Founders—Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton—have been the subjects of bestselling biographies. After the massive success of David McCullough's John Adams, other writers have begun to cash in on some of the lesser-known Founders, like John Jay (Walter Stahr, John Jay: Founding Father, 2006), Benjamin Rush (Alyn Brodsky, Benjamin Rush: Patriot and Physician, 2004), Gouverneur Morris (James J. Krischke, Gouverneur Morris: Author, Statesman, and Man of the World, 2005), Aaron Burr (Nancy Isenberg, Aaron Burr: Fallen Founder, 2007), and now Henry Knox (Mark Puls, Henry Knox: Visionary General of the American Revolution, 2008). For those of you who want to get in the the action, there are still holes to be filled. Where, for example, is the new biography of James Wilson or Fisher Ames or Elbridge Gerry or my ancestor, Revolutionary financier Robert Morris? ( )

Another excellent book by Ellis about the founding of the Republic. ( )

Ellis seeks to move away from the notion that the Founding Fathers were all-wise and all-knowing to focus on the issues that shaped our nationhood. The tension between state and federal government, between government and citizen shaped the framework of our government and the very lack of resolution of these tensions has permitted our country to evolve. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on the Louisana Purchase which shows Jefferson willing to put aside his insistence on the primacy of the states to use federal power to vastly enlarge the nation. Napoleon's plot to invade Santo Domingo and use it as a staging area to claim Louisana was new information for me. Oh, those duplicitious French! ( )