I’ve been reading the outstanding biography of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow these last few days. I’ve read John Adams by David McCullough. Are there any other works about the founding fathers of the US I should read? Has anyone written a biography of Benjamin Franklin that is substantial enough to warrant reading? George Washington? Is there a biography of Thomas Jefferson?
These aren’t biographies in the sense you might be after, but I really enjoyed:
Rise to Rebellion and
The Glorious Cause by Shaara.
Miracle At Philadelphia : The Story of the Constitutional Convention May - September 1787 is a terrific read, probably as exciting a book as it’s possible to write on this topic.
David McCullough’s biography of John Adams is superb.
He also wrote another biography that I really liked, but I forgot who it was about.
[sub]:: friedo goes off to Amazon… ::[/sub]
Oh yeah, he wrote that thing about Truman. He’s an old fart, but doesn’t qualify as a founding father, I guess.
You might also try The Founding Brothers, fairly recent, I forget the author’s name.
Fawn Brodie’s *Thomas Jefferson, an Intimate History * is very good. A second on Founding Brothers. It’s by Joseph Ellis, who also wrote American Sphinx, the Character of Thomas Jefferson.
I just finished reading Chernow’s book and it was fascinating to see Jefferson through his eyes as a Hamilton contemporary.
• George Washington, Volumes I-VI by Douglas Southall Freeman, and Volume VII, written by John Alexander Carroll and Mary Wells Ashworth.
• Benjamin Franklin by Carl Van Doren.
Both won the Pulitzer Prize for biography.
H. W. Brands’s recent bio of Ben Franklin isn’t bad, if you like 'em long and with lots of historical background.