Holding a Wolf by the Ears

Holding a Wolf by the Ears

Jefferson, Madison, and the Making of the Constitution by Jeff Broadwater. University of North Carolina Press, 2019. Hardcover, 296 pages, $30. Reviewed by Jason Ross No friendship in American history has been as consequential as that between Thomas Jefferson and...
A Refreshed and Refreshing Federalist

A Refreshed and Refreshing Federalist

Reflection and Choice: The Federalists, the Anti-Federalists, and the Debate that Defined America Edited by Gary L. Gregg II and Aaron N. Coleman. McConnell Center Books, 2020. Hardcover, 652 pages, $49.95. Reviewed by Michael Federici Since the original publication...
Naive Virtue?

Naive Virtue?

First Principles: What America’s Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country by Thomas E. Ricks. Harper, 2020. Hardcover, 416 pages, $30. Reviewed by Casey Chalk A classic, said Mark Twain, is “a book which people praise but don’t...
A Life for the Longfellow Renaissance

A Life for the Longfellow Renaissance

Cross of Snow: A Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Nicholas A. Basbanes. Knopf, 2020. Hardcover, 461 pages, $37.50. Reviewed by William F. Meehan III Henry Wadsworth Longfellow faded so far into American cultural memory that it is easy to forget he was the...
More than an Education

More than an Education

The Last American Aristocrat: The Brilliant Life and Improbable Education of Henry Adams By David S. Brown. Scribners, 2020. Hardcover, 426 pages. $25. Reviewed by Clayton Trutor The year I was graduated from high school was the same one in which all of those...