Reply #16: lots of biographies

[alc]

I spent a couple of years on the train to work every day reading biographies of people from 1700-early 1800s. There are LOTS of great ones. You learn about the lifestyle, politics, other leaders, and many other things as you read them and for me it's more interesting than reading a normal "history" book. I'd recommend reading at least 2 biographies of the main players because different biographers cover different things and they often disagree about the things. Hamilton, Adams, and Jefferson would be my first set of recommendations and I'd read 2 of each of those before moving on. I'd read at least Hamilton and Jefferson - their biographers disagree on many points so you realize that our information about them is uncertain and won't just take what you read for fact. Hamilton and Jefferson disagreed on many things and the biographers seemed to take sides as well, which was interesting to me. Franklin, Madison, Washington, and Burr would be next on my list, but I didn't get much out of the second of any of those. "Band Of Brothers" (I think that was the title) was also good, but I'd read it after some biographies so you know more details about the background. Some day I'd like to get around to reading biographies of British, French, and other European leaders of that time - unfortunately I work at home now with 2 kids and don't don't get as much reading done.