Ellis has done a superb job of analyzing the formation of the United States as a nation. Our founding fathers (and Mother, thank you Abigail) are shown in ways I wish our public schools would acknowledge to our children. They understood the enormity of what they had embarked on...this grand experiment of building a republic of divergent ideologies characterized by self-threatening limitations on centralized power. The magnanimous gestures of Washington, the carefully crafted political compromise, the moral courage, the perceptive foreign policy. If only for statesmen such as these today!Exquisitely written, Ellis has a first-rate novelist's ability to turn a phrase to delight those of us who prefer non-fiction. Highly recommended to all patriots and those whose lack an understanding of our nation's history - nay, our nation's meaning.