The Patriots: Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and the Making of America

A reasonable introduction to three of the founders -- Adams, Jefferson and Hamilton, but a little too reliant on secondary sources, for example, Chernow, not even a professional historian. Some of its assertions are incorrect, such as that Jefferson is the second best known founder -- it's probably Franklin. Stating that Adams lacked vision is also highly questionable. A major blunder: stating that Madison was Speaker of the House in the first Congress. Not only was he not, he was never Speaker in any iteration of the Congress. A mistake of this order casts doubt on the correctness of the whole.

An attempt at a chronological biographical portrait of three people in one book causes a lot of stuttering narrative and repetition of the same events as all of them are involved in the same key historical happenings. There's something worthwhile brewing in taking a prismatic look at history when doing biography, if for the sake of illuminating the same event through contrasting perspectives to gain a better understanding of them. Unfortunately little of that nature goes on in this book. Instead you're getting essentially three different short biographies split apart and stitched together.
If this is your first stab at a biography of any of these men, this could be useful. If you're already have a cursory familiarity with the subject show more there's not a lot to be gained as any depth had to be sacrificed to reach this page count for all three. show less

This book was so good – it’s non fiction that reads so easy. The author does an excellent job of bringing the history alive so that the reader feels like they are there with the Revolutionaries as they fight for what will become the United States of America.

The book focuses on three of our founding fathers; Jefferson, Hamilton, and John Adams. We learn a little of their early lives but while the book is about the men there is a fourth and greater character – the country. It is the separation from England and the formation of a government that seeks to unite the people as citizes of the United States rather than as colonists of England. It was not a smooth or easy process and truth be told it’s rather miraculous that it show more worked.

It’s been a very long time since I had any American History classes in high school and my college studies were all European history because that is were my passion lies but as I get older I find myself wanting to learn more of the truth of my own country’s history and therefore I read.

The founding of this country was an extraordinary event. The men who built it were intelligent and determined to create a new government – one without a king. They were not perfect and the country was founded on the backs of slaves – that cannot be ignored. Many of the Founders were conflicted about slavery but still owned slaves; Hamilton and Jefferson included. That is not ignored in this book but neither is it overplayed – it is what it is. They were men of their times and we cannot interject today’s mores on yesterday’s men.

I found that once I started this book I had a really hard time putting it down. It was as fascinating and easy to read as any historical fiction book. Mr. Groom brings the founding of our country alive and presents three of its Founders in well rounded ways. We revere these men as the Founders but they were just men with the temperments and foibles that go along with being human. They did not always get along and they did not always agree but they did manage to bring their diverse backgrounds together to form this great country. show less