Plain, Honest Men
The Making of the American Constitution
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Narrated by:
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Michael Prichard
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By:
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Richard Beeman
About this listen
Audiences will come to appreciate the challenges that the Founding Fathers faced in creating a form of government that, while imperfect in many respects, nevertheless approaches, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, "so near to perfection as it does."
©2008 Richard Beeman (P)2009 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Jefferson
- Architect of American Liberty
- By: John B. Boles
- Narrated by: Michael Johnson
- Length: 24 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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From an eminent scholar of the American South, the first full-scale biography of Thomas Jefferson since 1970. Not since Merrill Peterson's Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation has a scholar attempted to write a comprehensive biography of the most complex Founding Father. In Jefferson, John B. Boles plumbs every facet of Thomas Jefferson's life, all while situating him amid the sweeping upheaval of his times. We meet Jefferson the politician and political thinker - as well as Jefferson the architect, scientist, bibliophile, paleontologist, musician, and gourmet.
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Makes Jefferson Human
- By MichaelBuffalo on 06-23-20
By: John B. Boles
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The Lost Founding Father
- John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics
- By: William J. Cooper
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Why has John Quincy Adams been largely written out of American history when he is, in fact, our lost Founding Father? Overshadowed by both his brilliant father and the brash and bold Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams has long been dismissed as hyper-intellectual. Viciously assailed by Jackson and his populist mobs for being both slippery and effete, Adams nevertheless recovered from the malodorous 1828 presidential election to lead the nation as a lonely Massachusetts congressman in the fight against slavery.
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Edifying
- By Jean on 01-15-18
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Madison's Gift
- Five Partnerships That Built America
- By: David Stewart
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Short, plain, balding, neither soldier nor orator, low on charisma and high on intelligence, Madison cared more about achieving results than taking the credit. To reach his lifelong goal of a self-governing constitutional republic, he blended his talents with those of key partners. It was Madison who led the drive for the Constitutional Convention and pressed for an effective new government as his patron George Washington lent the effort legitimacy.
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Excellent history of our nation's founding
- By JJay on 02-23-15
By: David Stewart
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How Alexander Hamilton Screwed Up America
- By: Brion McClanahan
- Narrated by: Thomas Rosenfeld
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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He is the star of a hit Broadway musical, the face on the 10-dollar bill, and a central figure among the founding fathers. But do you really know Alexander Hamilton? Rather than lionize Hamilton, Americans should carefully consider his most significant and ultimately detrimental contribution to modern society: the shredding of the United States Constitution. Connecting the dots between Hamilton's invention of implied powers in 1791 to transgender bathrooms and same-sex marriage today, Brion McClanahan shows the origins of our modern federal leviathan.
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Thank You Audible
- By No to Statism on 10-03-18
By: Brion McClanahan
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American Sphinx
- The Character of Thomas Jefferson
- By: Joseph J. Ellis
- Narrated by: Susan O'Malley
- Length: 15 hrs
- Unabridged
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For a man who insisted that life on the public stage was not what he had in mind, Thomas Jefferson certainly spent a great deal of time in the spotlight. Historian Joseph J. Ellis sifts the facts shrewdly from the legends and the rumors, treading a path between vilification and hero worship in order to formulate a plausible portrait of the man who still today "hover[s] over the political scene like one of those dirigibles cruising above a crowded football stadium, flashing words of inspiration to both teams".
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So: they did the DNA and … time to change appendix
- By Jamanosa on 11-03-21
By: Joseph J. Ellis
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The Fiery Trial
- Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery
- By: Eric Foner
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 18 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Eric Foner gives us the definitive history of Abraham Lincoln and the end of slavery in America. Foner's Lincoln emerges as a leader, one whose greatness lies in his capacity for moral and political growth through real engagement with allies and critics alike. This powerful work will transform our understanding of the nation's greatest president and the issue that mattered most.
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Great Book about a Monstrous Injustice
- By Cynthia on 07-29-13
By: Eric Foner
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This Audible book is NOT for a popular audience!
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Ratification
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When the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia adjourned late in the summer of 1787, the delegates returned to their states to report on the new Constitution, which had to be ratified by specially elected conventions in at least nine states. Pauline Maier recounts the dramatic events of the ensuing debate in homes, taverns, and convention halls, drawing generously on the speeches and letters of founding fathers, both familiar and forgotten, on all sides.
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The Framers' Coup
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Americans revere their Constitution. However, most of us are unaware how tumultuous and improbable the drafting and ratification processes were. As Benjamin Franklin keenly observed, any assembly of men bring with them "all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests and their selfish views." One need not deny that the Framers had good intentions in order to believe that they also had interests.
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Context Matters
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Power and Liberty
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The half century extending from the imperial crisis between Britain and its colonies in the 1760s to the early decades of the new republic of the United States was the greatest and most creative era of constitutionalism in American history, and perhaps in the world. During these decades, Americans explored and debated all aspects of politics and constitutionalism - the nature of power, liberty, representation, rights, the division of authority between different spheres of government, sovereignty, judicial authority, and written constitutions.
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Provides Context for Todays Mess
- By Tad on 07-20-24
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The Summer of 1787
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- Narrated by: George Wilson
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David O. Stewart presents this well-researched account of the U.S. Constitution's creation not as a dry analysis of events, but as a high-powered narrative filled with dramatic intensity and larger-than-life historical figures.
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Very well done!
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The Radicalism of the American Revolution
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Grand in scope, rigorous in its arguments, and elegantly synthesizing 30 years of scholarship, Gordon S. Wood's Pulitzer Prize–winning book analyzes the social, political, and economic consequences of 1776. In The Radicalism of the American Revolution, Wood depicts not just a break with England, but the rejection of an entire way of life: of a society with feudal dependencies, a politics of patronage, and a world view in which people were divided between the nobility and "the Herd."
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Changed the Way I Think
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The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787
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This Audible book is NOT for a popular audience!
- By BigWally on 11-22-18
By: Gordon S. Wood
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Ratification
- The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788
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When the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia adjourned late in the summer of 1787, the delegates returned to their states to report on the new Constitution, which had to be ratified by specially elected conventions in at least nine states. Pauline Maier recounts the dramatic events of the ensuing debate in homes, taverns, and convention halls, drawing generously on the speeches and letters of founding fathers, both familiar and forgotten, on all sides.
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History Always Repeats
- By Howard on 08-27-11
By: Pauline Maier
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The Framers' Coup
- The Making of the United States Constitution
- By: Michael J. Klarman
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 31 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Americans revere their Constitution. However, most of us are unaware how tumultuous and improbable the drafting and ratification processes were. As Benjamin Franklin keenly observed, any assembly of men bring with them "all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests and their selfish views." One need not deny that the Framers had good intentions in order to believe that they also had interests.
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Context Matters
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Power and Liberty
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The half century extending from the imperial crisis between Britain and its colonies in the 1760s to the early decades of the new republic of the United States was the greatest and most creative era of constitutionalism in American history, and perhaps in the world. During these decades, Americans explored and debated all aspects of politics and constitutionalism - the nature of power, liberty, representation, rights, the division of authority between different spheres of government, sovereignty, judicial authority, and written constitutions.
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Provides Context for Todays Mess
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The Summer of 1787
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David O. Stewart presents this well-researched account of the U.S. Constitution's creation not as a dry analysis of events, but as a high-powered narrative filled with dramatic intensity and larger-than-life historical figures.
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Very well done!
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The Radicalism of the American Revolution
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Grand in scope, rigorous in its arguments, and elegantly synthesizing 30 years of scholarship, Gordon S. Wood's Pulitzer Prize–winning book analyzes the social, political, and economic consequences of 1776. In The Radicalism of the American Revolution, Wood depicts not just a break with England, but the rejection of an entire way of life: of a society with feudal dependencies, a politics of patronage, and a world view in which people were divided between the nobility and "the Herd."
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Changed the Way I Think
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Decision in Philadelphia
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Fifty-five men met in Philadelphia in 1787 to write a document that would create a country and change a world: the Constitution. Here is a remarkable rendering of that fateful time, told with humanity and humor. Decision in Philadelphia is the best popular history of the Constitutional Convention; in it, the life and times of 18th-century America not only come alive, but the very human qualities of the men who framed the document are brought provocatively into focus - casting many of the Founding Fathers in a new light.
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excellent book
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The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89
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In The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89, Edmund S. Morgan shows how the challenge of British taxation started Americans on a search for constitutional principles to protect their freedom, and eventually led to the Revolution. By demonstrating that the founding fathers' political philosophy was not grounded in theory, but rather grew out of their own immediate needs, Morgan paints a vivid portrait of how the founders' own experiences shaped their passionate convictions, and these in turn were incorporated into the Constitution and other governmental documents.
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His Excellency
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Acclaimed author Joseph J. Ellis penned the National Book Award-winning American Sphinx and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Founding Brothers, a fixture on The New York Times best seller list for an entire year, and one of the most popular history books of all time. Now this master historian turns his attention to the most exalted American hero, Founding Father and first President George Washington.
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Ellis is a known liar
- By Theresa on 02-21-05
By: Joseph J. Ellis
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Founding Brothers
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An illuminating study of the intertwined lives of the founders of the American republic - John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.
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Great!
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The Bill of Rights Primer
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Many Americans reference the Bill of Rights, a document that represents many of the freedoms that define the United States. Who doesn’t know about the First Amendment’s freedom of religion or Second Amendment’s right to bear arms? In this succinct volume, Akhil Reed Amar and Les Adams offer a wealth of knowledge about the Bill of Rights that goes beyond a basic understanding.The Bill of Rights Primer is an authoritative guide to all American freedoms. Uncluttered and well-organized, this audiobook is perfect for those who want to study up on the Bill of Rights without needing a law degree to do so.
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At this length, basic; but at that, great
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A Brilliant Solution
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We know - and love - the story of the American Revolution, from the Declaration of Independence to Cornwallis' defeat. But our first government was a disaster, and the country was in a terrible crisis. So when a group of men traveled to Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 to save a nation in danger of collapse, they had no great expectations for the meeting that would make history.
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Washington's Crossing
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This New York Times best seller is a thrilling account of one of the most pivotal moments in United States history. Six months after the Declaration of Independence, America was nearly defeated. Then on Christmas night, George Washington led his men across the Delaware River to destroy the Hessians at Trenton. A week later Americans held off a counterattack, and in a brilliant tactical move, Washington crept behind the British army to win another victory. The momentum had reversed.
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Particularly Good Military History
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The Second Founding
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From the Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar, a timely history of the constitutional changes that built equality into the nation's foundation and how those guarantees have been shaken over time.
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Excellent book - problematic narrator
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Worse than Nothing
- The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism
- By: Erwin Chemerinsky
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- Unabridged
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Originalism, the view that the meaning of a constitutional provision is fixed when it is adopted, was once the fringe theory of a few extremely conservative legal scholars but is now a well-accepted mode of constitutional interpretation. Noted legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky gives a comprehensive analysis of the problems that make originalism unworkable as a method of constitutional interpretation. He argues that the framers themselves never intended constitutional interpretation to be inflexible and shows how it is often impossible to know the "original intent" of any provision.
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Impeccably Logical, Backed by 100 Specific Example
- By Amy Eaton on 03-17-23
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The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen
- Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern World
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- Unabridged
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A work of extraordinary range and striking originality, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen traces the global history of written constitutions from the 1750s to the 20th century, modifying accepted narratives and uncovering the close connections between the making of constitutions and the making of war. In the process, Linda Colley both reappraises famous constitutions and recovers those that have been marginalized but were central to the rise of a modern world.
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Disappointing
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By: Linda Colley
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The Cause
- The American Revolution and Its Discontents, 1773-1783
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George Washington claimed that anyone who attempted to provide an accurate account of the war for independence would be accused of writing fiction. At the time, no one called it the “American Revolution”: Former colonists still regarded themselves as Virginians or Pennsylvanians, not Americans, while John Adams insisted that the British were the real revolutionaries, for attempting to impose radical change without their colonists’ consent. With The Cause, Ellis takes a fresh look at the events between 1773 and 1783.
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Modest history primer, wished for more substance
- By Buretto on 10-21-21
By: Joseph J. Ellis
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The Federalist Papers (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 20 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Hailed by Thomas Jefferson as "the best commentary on the principles of government which was ever written," The Federalist Papers is a collection of 85 essays published by Founding Fathers Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay from 1787 to 1788, as a means to persuade the public to ratify the Constitution of the United States. With nearly two-thirds of the essays written by Hamilton, this enduring classic is perfect for modern audiences passionate about his work or seeking a deeper understanding of one of the most important documents in US history.
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I must for everyone who slept through history class
- By Claire Bassett on 06-23-19
By: Alexander Hamilton, and others
What listeners say about Plain, Honest Men
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Debbie
- 01-21-17
Return to the truth
respect lost in modern times.return to needs of the people.Best system in the world.
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- Kindle Customer
- 02-11-13
Detailed Examination
Where does Plain, Honest Men rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
This audio-book easily rates among my top 5 listening experiences.
What other book might you compare Plain, Honest Men to and why?
I don't really have a non-fiction book to compare it to since it is a day by day account.
Any additional comments?
The experience of the Revolutionary War is obviously still fresh in the minds of the attendees and probably accounts for their difficulties with Executive Power.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Patrick Anderson Jr
- 07-19-18
Thorough and entertaining.
I really enjoyed this story of the creation of the constitution. The debates between the founding fathers were fascinating and the narrator is great.
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- DM
- 02-16-22
very well written
A fantastic look into the inner workings of the Constitutional Convention and the minds of the men behind it.
Fascinating and detailed, gave me a much clearer picture of the machinations around the 4 month process that ended with the Constitution.
Enjoyable in every way, took a subject that could be very boring and kept it interesting.
It's no page turning murder mystery, but very enjoyable in its own right
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- Vales Tales
- 11-20-17
Fascinating Telling of Important Story
This is the way history needs to be told. Even though I knew the ending, I was on the edge of my seat.
Michael Prichard is my favorite reader. He could read the phone book and it would be good.
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- Maddie49
- 10-12-11
Grand Narrative
If you ever wanted to clearly understand what really occurred when the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia, this is the book for you. I was not too enthralled by the first few pages of the narrator's voice, but as time passed, I began to like the pace, and lack of enthusiasm in his voice. This is the seminal work for looking deep into the hearts and minds of the authors of the US Constitution.
Much like Goodwin's Team of Rivals, this sweeping work has extensive source materials and uses these source materials to support the finding and lives of these very distinct men. Beeman also carries you back to what the city was like in the late 1700's, thrusting the reader into the time period whether you want to go or not. George Washington's presence at the beginning of the book signals what is about to come!
I encourage those whose tastes move in early American historical fact, this is the book for you. It is comprehensive in scope and answers those questions that you did not think to ask!
Excellent!
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10 people found this helpful
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- ShySusan
- 10-01-11
Good history.
I don't read a lot of history, but I have been reading a number of books about the American Revolution and its leaders. This book is a worthy entry into that group. I remember (vaguely) studying this stuff in school, and how boring it was. But this book was not boring. He made the various characters come alive, and he did a good job of making the setting real as well. I have long wondered why the Bill of Rights was not part of the original Constitution and why slavery was not eliminated. These were discussed and well answered. I had heard the Constitution referred to as the Great Compromise without understanding what it meant. Now I know (or at least know a lot more about it than I used to). The more I learn about the founding of our country and the men who made it happen, the more amazed I am that they were able to bring it off, and the more grateful I am to men who were willing to put the good of all ahead of their own personal gain. I also want to say that I have listened to a lot of books narrated by Michael Prichard, and he did his usual excellent job. I recommend this book to you.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Eskimoe
- 02-15-23
Outstanding!!!
I have always been fascinated by the story of the crafting of the Constitution. This book is now in 1st place as far as my favs go n the subject.
Every once in awhile, I did detect the author’s opinion but the other 98% of the time he let the story tell itself and the audience form their own opinions.
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- Beth Doyle
- 01-01-12
Who knew!
I am not a history buff in the least, however, my husband is and when we listen to books together, I select some that might interest him. This book was pretty interesting and did a nice job of telling what happened in developing the important documents and the key players involved in the process. It was interesting and enlightening to me and had a few tidbits my husband didn't know. I did finally speed up the narration as it was a bit slow on the third download part.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-29-20
fantastic story telling of the U.S. constitution
loved the story telling style of the history of the creation of the U.S. constitution. Woven perfectly with primary source quotes and environmental context.
the narrator would have done well to avoid using accents when quoting historical figures. I found them distracting rather than engrossing. I also listened to it all at 1.5 speed and it sounded, for the most part, like it was being read at a casual pace.
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1 person found this helpful