Wit and Wisdom of the Founding Fathers


Book Description

"George Washington laughing? That the venerable Father of Our Country, the austere and unfailingly honest leader of historical record and legend, had a penchant for tall tales and crafty quips seems unthinkable to most Americans, even today. In The Wit & Wisdom of the Founding Fathers, historian and scholar Paul Zall shatters the sober image of American icons George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin to reveal - and celebrate - their natural bent for incisive, spirited humor." "With ample quotes from personal correspondence and private memoirs, Zall peers behind the staid and serious facade of our first three presidents and demonstrates how each strove to suppress his sense of mirth to maintain a dignified public reputation. By lifting the curtain on our Founding Fathers as they engage in practical jokes and regale friends with humorous stories, Zall opens a window on their personalities otherwise obscured by our preconceptions of them as larger-than-life historical figures. While Franklin's humor and wisdom is legendary thanks to his authorship of Poor Richard's Almanac, readers will be surprised to learn that Washington had a penchant for biting sarcasm; that Adams engaged in direct, colloquial, even vulgar, humor; and that Jefferson, our most cerebral president, enjoyed laughing at the absurdity of his own situation as leader of the nation."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved




America's Founding Fathers


Book Description

Arguably, no other revolution in history has enjoyed such a brilliant gallery of thinkers as the one that led to the founding of the United States. America’s Founding Fathers is centered on the personal philosophies, opinions, thoughts, witticisms, and feelings of the exemplary men who founded our nation. This book gathers together the founding fathers' best quotations on a variety of subjects including life, love, marriage, family, children, religion, patriotism, sacrifice, law, professionalism, medicine, public health, education, money, “modern” society, the Revolutionary War, humor, and death. Colleagues and rivals, friends and enemies, the eight founding fathers—Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Benjamin Rush, and Thomas Paine—here provide their views on subjects as relevant now as ever.




Bite-Size Franklin


Book Description

As a bestselling author and our nation's earliest spokesman, Benjamin Franklin brilliantly extolled virtues of temperance, industry, and self-reliance --character traits which throughout our history have been celebrated as both personally liberating and quintessentially American. In this next installment of the highly successful Bite-Size series, Bite-Size Franklin draws some practical wisdom, and more than a few laughs, from Franklin's intimate letters, scientific essays, newspaper articles, and revolutionary writings, as well as from the pages of career advice, aphorisms, and humorous verse he weaved together in his Autobiography, and in his yearly publication Poor Richard's Almanac.




In Their Own Words


Book Description

In Their Own Words: The Wisdom and Passion of Our Founding Fathers. A Book to Share with Your Children and Grandchildren. The words of the founding fathers are full of both wisdom and passion. From one generation of American's to the next, these words serve as an enduring reminder of the principles and values upon which the United States has been founded. In Their Own Words provides patriots of all ages the opportunity to share in the wisdom of the founders by exploring the words of some of the most celebrated founding fathers (George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Samuel Adams, Thomas Paine). Questions and commentary are also provided to prompt discussion about the inspired ideals that have paved the road for a nation founded on the blessings of liberty.







The Quotable Founding Fathers


Book Description

No group is quoted--and misquoted--more often than America's founders. When a political controversy heats up, the nation's speechwriters, politicians, reporters, editorial writers, and talking heads try to influence the debate by quoting their words. Year in and year out, teachers and political buffs look to their wisdom to illuminate the issues. How much easier it would be to find every key quote by the founders in a single source. The Quotable Founding Fathers, edited by Buckner F. Melton, Jr., provides just that source--a compilation of some 2,500 quotes summing up the wit and wisdom of the founders. While some of these quotations can be found in general quotation compilations such as Bartlett's, these volumes offer only a fraction of what's available. The Quotable Founding Fathers mines deeper into the founders' essays, diaries, letters, speeches, and sermons to extract all the nuggets that are significant to the history of the country-- and to the ongoing debate about the meaning of democracy in America.




The Founding Fathers


Book Description

Filled with over two hundred quotes from John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and more, The Founding Fathers: Quotes, Quips, and Speeches captures the essence of America's most influential leaders in an elegant collection that explores the American Revolution. Discover their thoughts on honesty, democracy, perseverance, hope, liberty, and leadership, and read from landmark speeches of the day—from Samuel Adam's 1776 address to the Continental Congress to George Washington's resignation speech. Hear the voices of the people who changed the world. Praise for Abraham Lincoln: Quotes, Quips, and Speeches "An easy and enjoyable introduction to one of America's greatest presidents and heroes."—Tom Schwartz, historian emeritus for the state of Illinois "Gordon Leidner provides readers with a toothsome smorgasbord of Abraham Lincoln's wit and wisdom. This volume is an excellent introduction to the Great Emancipator's humanity, philosophy, humor, and eloquence."—Michael Burlingame, Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies, University of Illinois-Springfield "Abraham Lincoln had the God-given talent to express himself in words that the people felt and understood. [This] book enables readers to sample and touch the greatness of Lincoln through his letters, public papers, and speeches."—Edwin C. Bearrs, historican emeritus, National Park Service




Alexander Hamilton Wit & Wisdom


Book Description

Discover America's most acerbic founding father in his own words! This handsome pocket-sized volume offers a collection of insights, witticisms, declarations, and sentiments penned by Alexander Hamilton throughout his life. From arguments in favor of the U. S. Constitution, to wartime correspondence with his wife Elizabeth, this little volume offers a glimpse into Hamilton's perspectives on the issues, events, and people who defined his life as well as the founding of America. Get acquainted with Hamilton, the writer; Hamilton, the man; and discover Hamilton's thoughts on Human Nature, Government, and Life. Includes full-color images. 64-page hardcover pocket gift book. Mini book measures 3-1/4 inches wide by 5-3/8 inches high.




Calvin Coolidge on the Founders


Book Description

In these pages Silent Cal Coolidge focuses his famed terse eloquence on the nation's founders, not merely on George Washington's indispensable figure but also on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton, Washington's fellow Virginia patriots, the Battles of Bunker Hill, Princeton, and Trenton, Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys, Boston's Old North Church, Methodist Episcopal Bishop Francis Asbury, and the pivotal role Jewish Americans played in winning of our freedoms. No modern president has spoken so much—or so well—of America's providential genesis. Coolidge turns mere history into a history lesson.David Pietrusza, editor of "Silent Cal's Almanack: The Homespun Wit and Wisdom of Vermont's Calvin Coolidge", is also the award-winning author of "1920: The Year of the Six Presidents", "1960: LBJ vs JFK vs Nixon," "1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America", and "Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius who Fixed the 1919 World Series." Pietrusza has served on both the national advisory board and the board of directors of the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation.ALSO BY DAVID PIETRUSZA:"SILENT CAL'S ALMANACK""Calvin Coolidge was one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century and is certainly the most underrated. This book, compiled by one of my favorite historians, will give readers a full appreciation of why Silent Cal's wisdom shines like a beacon through the fog of historical amnesia."—Jonah Goldberg, author of "Liberal Fascism"“David Pietrusza reminds us that decades before the age of the sound bite, Calvin Coolidge mastered the art. But unlike most politicians today, he used few words to say a wisdom-packed mouthful.”—David Stokes, author of "Apparent Danger—The Pastor of America's First Megachurch and the Texas Murder Trial of the Decade of the 1920s"www.davidpietrusza.com




The American Soul


Book Description

Looking at the lives of America's founders-including Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin-scholar and bestselling author Jacob Needleman explores their core of inner beliefs; their religious and spiritual sensibilities; and their individual conception of the purpose of life. The founders, Needleman argues, conceived of an "inner democracy": a continual pursuit of wisdom and self-improvement that would undergird the outer democracy in which we live today. Any understanding of America as a nation of spiritual values will in the years ahead require Needleman's work as a point of reference.