Reviews - The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789

108 reviews for:

The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789

I will write more later, but it is interesting to read a history of a particular part of history and compare it to the many biographies of the same people covered. It is different and I think useful to read both. Biographies necessarily make the individual the main focus. And everything revolves around the person's involvement. So it can look like anything not mentioned is less important. Histories look at the events but not usually deeply at the people and so they can miss how the people matter to the history.

Full review on my blog http://bookwi.se/quartet/

cassie_grace's review against another edition

3.0

Excellent book on a section of American history that is generally glossed over in schools. It presents the creation of the Constitution as a deliberate attempt by four founders to create a stronger national government.

salparadis3's review against another edition

3.5

informative inspiring slow-paced

bclark8781's review against another edition

4.0

Fascinating as far as it goes. I guess I would have preferred a longer book that goes into more detail on the events and personalities. I'm sure such a book is out there, and perhaps that's why this one feels a little - well, not the Cliff Notes version, but lacking some detail and context. I don't think I've ever read virtually anything about John Jay, and this makes me want to read more about all the main characters (save, I guess, Washington and Hamilton).

bryan8063's review against another edition

4.0

This is an interesting read, because Ellis argues that it was a small group of men that pulled the U.S. from a confederation to a republic with stronger federal power. Well written and engaging.

babblinglib's review against another edition

5.0

When James Madison asks his mentor Thomas Jefferson how best to deal with Patrick Henry, he was told "to ardently pray for his eminent death." Ellis does a fantastic job in bringing the men that pushed the county to adopt the constitution to life. These are not ethereal beings blessed with wisdom from the heavens but men who were frustrated with a system that had let them down during the Revolution and felt that they needed something better, something that most people in their new confederation could not have cared less about. A section about Madison's indifference to the need of a bill of rights is fascinating. An in-depth and interesting look at how they made history, sometimes by shear force of their personalities.