Highly recommend Founding Brothers, this is a great read. An honest and mature presentation of the challenges our Founding Fathers faced creating America after the Revolution. You will get to know the founding fathers as individuals, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. They often made policy up as they went along; each understanding the importance of compromise if America was to be given the opportunity to stand on untested wobbly legs. The States were apprehensive about creating any centralized form of government with the authority to tell them what to do; after all hadn't they just fought and won the right to be free of England. Complex issues like slavery had to be dealt with carefully or not at all if the Union was to be preserved. The initial chapter covering the Burr- Hamilton duel could put you off as Ellis includes too much unnecessary detail. Once Ellis hits his stride with Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Madison you will find yourself sitting along side these great men as they struggle to transform the idea of an American democracy into a reality.