Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As another reviewer noted, the author dedicates roughly 40 pages per founding father. The seven founding fathers that are covered in this work are Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, John Adams, John Jay, Madison and Hamilton. The author basically discusses three aspects of each founding father's life: his upbringing, his entry into politics and public service, and his role in the revolution. It should be noted that for the most part, the author does not discuss the roles of each founding father past the revolution (though there are exceptions). Morris also includes a chapter at the end of the book that ties everything together and discusses the founding fathers as a whole. Furthermore, Morris writes with a style that is often humorous and never dull. I am very thankful that I found and read this book. I would highly recommend it.

I fell in love with the writing of Richard Morris many years ago when I read a short piece he wrote that was published in an old AMERICAN HERITAGE magazine on James Otis. Since that time, I have never read anything from this magnificent author/historian in which I was even slightly dissappointed. This book is no exception. Professor Morris spent over half a century writing extraordinary works on American History. This book, one of Morris' later works, chronicles the early careers of seven of our greatest leaders; Ben Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. Morris devotes roughly 40 pages to each, so this is by no means an indepth look at each man, but rather a solid and insightful introduction. I was particularly impressed with his chapter on John Jay, which is not surprising given Morris' excellent biography on Jay, JOHN JAY, THE NATION, AND THE COURT, which was published just a few years prior to this book. If you haven't read Morris before, buy this book. If you have read Morris, then you already know what I'm talking about. Monty Rainey www.juntosociety.com