What readers think of Founding Brothers, plus links to write your own review.

I am currently reading this book for AP US History. I usually read it right after finishing getting ready for bed because it puts me to sleep! I don't know how this got the Pulitizer Prize! We have to write an essay on each of the events due Wednesday (it is Monday) and I only have 2 done! A friend and I are doing the last 4 together because it is unbearable to do! Maybe this subject isn't my thing, but because of this book, I have officially taken History out of my possible majors list! I don't recommend this book to anyone ever!

I enjoyed this book. I picked it up because in my American History class the professor had many quotes in his notes about it. I first went to the library and saw that this was also a PBS special and checked it out. The PBS special was phenomenal. If you liked this book or think you would definitely see the PBS special. After viewing it I knew for sure I wanted to read the book. The amount of personal and daily details was nice. The reader gets to "feel" the humanity of these heroic characters in our country's history. What was special was to read that they knew if they lost - they would have been killed as traitors and still decided for the good of the people the risk needed to be taken to lead this new nation to freedom.

For our US History class we've got to outline this book and let me tell you, it is no easy task! Ellis' descriptions could put anyone to sleep. His attention to detail is good, but he pushes the limit and really goes too far. Such minute description is not necessary for someone trying to understand the six events he chooses. The people who give out Pulitzer prizes must not have been very sharp when this book came across, it's really not worth it.

I strongly abhore this novel. My professor recommended The Founding Brothers to me and so i was strongly displeased once i opened the cover. Ellis illustrates six crucial moments that shaped our country with redundantly repetative vocabulary and loses the overall effect of each narrative due to the fact each one is explained in detail over and over again. Ellis's first story about the Duel is rather intriguing but I found the stories to go downhill from that point on. If you have a lot of time on your hands and enjoy indepth coverage of stories from all perspectives then maybe you might enjoy the book; however for a collegiate reader, the book drags on page after page even though it is a short read.

I have to read this book for my AP US History class and it has been trying to get through it. I have to write a novel critique on it and it has been devastatingly difficult to analyze this book because it is so hard to stay focused on what Joseph J. Ellis is talking about. He analyzes these six moments in history so deeply that you get lost in between his thoughts and vocabulary. Maybe an older would appreciate this novel but I would not recommend this to anyone in or below college.

I am had to read this book for my College history class, american history up to 1877, and I found it unexplainably boring. The first chapter in this book should have said it all. Ellis writes a page in what could have been said in a paragraph, and a short one at that. He some how manages a whole chapter on and on like this. This book is highly overrated. I don't see how it ever won a Pulitzer.

I found this book to be quite enjoyable. Many other reviewers have given it low ratings for the large vocabulary used by the author, describing it as "boring". While some chapters are hard to describe as anything but that, most are genuinely enjoyable. It does require a large vocabulary and good grasp of American History, especially early American History, and so is most suited to the AP or college student.

This book was very difficult to get through and hard to understand. It's hard to focus on, I still haven't finished reading it.