Happy Independence Day weekend! Chris recommends the following for your patriotic reading (and if you think we are getting through this list without any Hamilton gifs, you are mistaken):
- George Washington: The Indispensable Man by James T. Flexner is a condensed version of the original 4-volume biography. Flexner presents the nation’s first president in all his failings as well as his remarkable greatness.
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin does not cover the revolutionary period but it’s a fascinating look inside the mind of the talented Franklin. For an unbiased and comprehensive view, Walter Isaacson’s Benjamin Franklin: An American Life is the book to read.
- The Pulitzer Prize-winning biography John Adams by David McCullough is so good that HBO made a series out of it, with Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney playing John and Abigail Adams.
- Often described as both a philosophical thinker and a political genius, the charismatic author of the Declaration of Independence is captured by Jon Meacham in Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power.
- Of all the founding fathers, James Madison is the most underestimated, partly due to his short (5’ 4”) stature, quiet voice, and frequent illness. But in James Madison: A Life Reconsidered, Lynne Cheney deftly illustrates Madison’s abilities and achievements.
- Of course, no list is complete without Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton, the biography that inspired Lin-Manual Miranda to compose his award-winning musical. And at the other end of the dueling ground stands potentially the most complicated and misunderstood founding father. While there are several good biographies, the most entertaining take on Aaron ‘You’re the Worst’ Burr is Gore Vidal’s Burr: A Novel.
- Historical figures of this magnitude can be difficult to view as human beings but Joseph J. Ellis captures the diverse personalities of six founding fathers and the daunting challenge they faced as they set the course for a new nation in Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation.
- Last, but certainly not least, whether you believe “behind every great man is a great woman” or a woman rolling her eyes, you’ll love Cokie Roberts’ Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation, brimming with fascinating stories of extraordinary women who, often behind the scenes, were influential in the great experiment of freedom and democracy called America.
