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Liked It “Great "back stories" about moments in history we all thought we knew and understood. Gives great insights into relationships between and among the Founding Fathers. Also, provides interesting insights into early U.S. relationships with other countries. Maintains the stain on the Founding Fathers...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Great "back stories" about moments in history we all thought we knew and understood. Gives great insights into relationships between and among the Founding Fathers. Also, provides interesting insights into early U.S. relationships with other countries. Maintains the stain on the Founding Fathers is that they never effectively dealt with slavery or with the native American population”
Peter F wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“At times Joseph Ellis's prose is a bit inelegant. His sentence structures can be a bit awkward, making reading this book a less-than-smooth affair. Additionally, there are interesting omissions from the book, and crucial periods of the "American Creation" are gleaned over rather quickly for a book with this title. Finally, the latter half of the book focuses an awful lot on Thomas Jefferson's personality- making the book feel like two books: the first about Independence and the Constitution, and the second about Jefferson. Nevertheless, this book is a valuable addition to the work done examining the birth of our nation, and deserves to be read.
Alex D wrote this review 4 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
”“I've only read part of it, but its good”
Branavan R wrote this review Friday, October 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I am a little bit biased here because Ellis' Founding Brothers is one of my all time favorites. Fantastic storyteller and he really allowes you to access the Founders through the stories he illuminates. American Creation is a fantastic read!”
Matthew O wrote this review Monday, August 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“A great account of Madison's work and others during the tumultuous times of the beginning of our nation”
ron h wrote this review Friday, August 7 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Tenia F said: 4 Stars
Play Book Tag Shelf wrote this review Monday, July 13 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Joseph Ellis once agains brings the American Revolutionary and it's founding fathers to brilliant life. Unlike other history books on the Revolution, and the Founding Fathers, Ellis shows that they really didn't know what they were doing and didn't pretend to. They wanted freedom, and though they didn't all agree on how to go about doing it. He also goes into detail on how the Founding Father's writings helped with freeing slaves, giving women equal rights. Ofcourse none of them had any idea that they would be credited for things in the future.
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“ American Creation Joseph J Ellis
Tenia F wrote this review Saturday, July 11 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
4 Stars
Joseph Ellis once agains brings the American Revolutionary and it's founding fathers to brilliant life. Unlike other history books on the Revolution, and the Founding Fathers, Ellis shows that they really didn't know what they were doing and didn't pretend to. They wanted freedom, and though they didn't all agree on how to go about doing it. He also goes into detail on how the Founding Father's writings helped with freeing slaves, giving women equal rights. Ofcourse none of them had any idea that they would be credited for things in the future.”“Scholarly, and made me want to see the whole John Adams HBO series again”
Cynthia R wrote this review Wednesday, June 3 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“‘American Creation’ wasn't an entertaining read for me. It reads like a text book, but I have to give high marks for Joseph Ellis’ dedication to and obvious love of the topic. I've been on a nonfiction kick lately, but I haven’t read a lot of “serious” history. Maybe practice would bring entertainment.
Joe B wrote this review Wednesday, April 8 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This book is the result of extensive research on six separate topics. The topics are thoroughly researched and cited, but sometimes so specific that some of the peripheral information I wanted was cut short. ‘American Creation’ is written by a scholar and I expect it fills in knowledge and perspective that will be cited in many other scholarly works. For me it was full of information that requires me to do more reading, especially to flesh out some perspective on Thomas Jefferson. On that level I call this book a success.
Although, it would be nice to be entertained as I was with Jeffery Toobin’s ‘The Nine’…”
