Ellis ... writes with insight and acuity in the present tense, just as he always has in the past tense, and in American Dialogue he draws connections between our history and our present reality with an authority that few other authors can muster. It may cost him some of his readership on the right, but Ellis, clearly, has reached the limit of his tolerance for the mythical, indeed farcical, notion that the anti-Federalists won the argument in the late 18th century, or that the founders, to a man, stood for small and weak government, unrestrained market capitalism, unfettered gun ownership and the unlimited infusion of money into the political sphere.
...richly rewarding ... This immensely stimulating, in-depth look at the past and America’s challenges in the present should be read by anyone interested in American history.
The treatments of each subject can be uneven; it’s very likely that different readers will find different sections uneven, depending on where they agree with Ellis ... The book offers less on current race relations, a topic that confounds most commentators, though its focus on a 'biracial' America can feel dated in the midst of our multiracial reality ... In discussing law, and spotlighting James Madison, Ellis is less surefooted, overstating judicial rulings he dislikes while pronouncing that the Supreme Court has become 'the dominant branch of the federal government' on domestic policy. The tone grows bitter, dismissing Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion on the Second Amendment ... Ellis’s powerful epigram captures why we now have so much war: 'It is not declared, few have to fight, and no one has to pay.' Or maybe you would argue the point. Ellis will oblige you.
The chapters on the founders are insightful and clearly benefit from his deep knowledge of the men's lives, works and his familiarity with seemingly every written word they ever produced. But the current events chapters are often unfocused, don't quite mesh with their related founder chapter and often veer toward a rehash of liberal conventional wisdom.
Eliis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling historian, is aware of the difficulties and dangers implicit in seeking answers to our current debates and dilemmas in the archives of the Founding Fathers, yet he attempts to do so here, and his effort to apply the views of four historical icons to current political conflicts is interesting and useful ... Ellis joins other best-selling historians currently seeking perspective, including Doris Kearns Goodwin, with a sure-to-be roundly publicized examination of American conundrums.
[The book's organization] puts the reader in a position to grasp how understanding today’s controversial issues can be enhanced by learning how they were originally dealt with by the smartest guys in the room when the country first began facing its problems ... American Dialogue has arrived on the scene at an optimum time. With polarization ratcheting up with each passing day, and civil discourse becoming almost extinct, it’s a worthwhile exercise to revisit the treasured history of America’s early days as a republic.
Ellis...offers a lucid and authoritative examination of America’s tumultuous beginnings, when the Founding Fathers grappled with issues of race, income inequality, law, and foreign policy—all issues that still vex the nation. Believing that history is 'an ongoing conversation between past and present,' the author asks what Jefferson, Washington, Madison, and Adams can teach us today. 'What did ‘all men are created equal’ mean then and now? Did the ‘pursuit of happiness’ imply the right to some semblance of economic equality? Does it now?' These and other salient questions inform Ellis’ vivid depiction of the controversies swirling as the Constitution was drafted and ratified. A discerning, richly detailed inquiry into America’s complex political and philosophical legacy.
The founders have much to tell us about current problems, none of it simple, according to this incisive study of American political creeds. Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Ellis probes the writings of four Revolutionary War leaders on issues of ideology and governance that still roil America ... Ellis’s passions sometimes show, as in his criticism of Justice Antonin Scalia’s writings on the Second Amendment. Still, his colorful, nuanced portraits of these outsized but very human personalities and shrewd analyses of their philosophies make for a compelling case for the troubled but vital legacy of the founding generation.
