# Best books on the US Founding Fathers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 27, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-on-the-us-founding-fathers/257179 "2004-07-27T23:46:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-on-the-us-founding-fathers/257179/1 "2004-07-27T23:46:27Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![toftdahl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@toftdahl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toftdahl)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-on-the-us-founding-fathers/257179/2 "2004-07-27T23:53:06Z")
These aren’t biographies in the sense you might be after, but I _really_ enjoyed: **Rise to Rebellion** and **The Glorious Cause** by Shaara. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-on-the-us-founding-fathers/257179/3 "2004-07-28T00:05:12Z")
[Miracle At Philadelphia : The Story of the Constitutional Convention May - September 1787](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316103985/qid=1090972979/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-1673759-4373758) is a terrific read, probably as exciting a book as it’s possible to write on this topic. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-on-the-us-founding-fathers/257179/4 "2004-07-28T00:05:23Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-on-the-us-founding-fathers/257179/5 "2004-07-28T00:23:46Z")
You might also try _The Founding Brothers_, fairly recent, I forget the author’s name. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-on-the-us-founding-fathers/257179/6 "2004-07-28T03:29:51Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-on-the-us-founding-fathers/257179/7 "2004-07-28T03:38:35Z")
Not a bio, but i just gotta mention [FART PROUDLY](http://www.history-us.com/Fart_Proudly_Writings_of_Benjamin_Franklin_You_Never_Read_in_School_1583940790.html)!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-on-the-us-founding-fathers/257179/8 "2004-07-28T06:01:20Z")
• _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. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-books-on-the-us-founding-fathers/257179/9 "2004-07-28T16:31:58Z")
[H. W. Brands’s recent bio of Ben Franklin](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385495404/qid=1091031852/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/104-9360271-5031161?v=glance&s=books) isn’t bad, if you like 'em long and with lots of historical background.