Book Review: American Creation by Joseph Ellis
American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic
Joseph J. Ellis
(2007, Knopf Publishing)
The more I read about the founding of our country a few things become clearer and clearer for me. One thing is my respect for these men to actually pull off this whole thing when so many odds were against them from the beginning. Another thing is the amazing wherewithal these men possessed to seize the moment that was given to them and embrace the circumstances they found themselves in for America’s benefit. The last thing is more personal, but it’s the changing the “heroic” status these men hold in America today to the view that these were men, great men albeit, but men nonetheless who had just as many flaws as attributes. An almost demi-god status now, learning more about the founding fathers like George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson helps strip these men down to simply just that — men at an opportune time who acted in a way that set in action one of the greatest experiments ever.
While the author, Joseph J. Ellis, does tell the story of America’s triumph in the War for Independence extremely well, the strength of this book resides in his ability to show the greatest failings as well of the founding generation, namely the failure to abolish slavery at our nation’s conception and the forced removal of Native Americans. These two tragedies are giant stains upon the great achievements of this generation. While it might be easy to “pile-on” in hindsight, Ellis does a great job of approaching the controversies as level-headed as possible, giving fair treatment in the praises and well as the failings of the men we have come to regard as national heros.
Next Book: Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu by Laurence Bergreen
This entry was posted on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 9:56am. It has been filed under Media, Books, News, Reviews, Thoughts, Writers, Joshua.
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