Review by Booklist Review
Thirty-five words. That's the length of the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence, the one that begins with "We hold these truths to be self-evident" and ends with "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." In between, there is talk of equality and sacrosanct rights. It's a lot to pack into a single sentence, but award-winning biographer Isaacson cogently honors the wisdom it took to create it. Its authors--Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams--struggled over concerns such as, who, precisely, should be included in "We" and whether "inalienable" would be a better choice than "unalienable." Glimpses into such behind-the-scenes polishing of the most important of our country's foundational documents would be fascinating in and of itself, but as the Declaration's 250th anniversary draws near, Isaacson's granular analysis serves as a more potent lesson. Our nascent nation was freeing itself from Britain's tyrannical rule, the facts of which are specifically enumerated in the body of the Declaration. Re-reading these grievances through the lens of today's politically fraught atmosphere is a chilling but necessary exercise. In Isaacson's expert hands, those 35 words, and the ones that come after them, gain a new level of clarity and relevance, and inspire deepened appreciation.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestselling biographer Isaacson (Elon Musk) takes a word-by-word look at America's founding in this timely, if somewhat negligible, volume. The sentence under Isaacson's consideration is the most famous one from the Declaration of Independence--the one beginning, "We hold these truths to be self-evident." In its 35 words, Thomas Jefferson, with assists from John Adams and Benjamin Franklin (who added "self-evident" to replace Jefferson's "sacred"), delivered the philosophical underpinning of America. Isaacson dedicates short chapters to each of the sentence's components, along the way offering well-worn and familiar critiques and factoids. In his chapter on "We," he discusses Enlightenment notions of natural rights and social contracts that influenced the founders. In "All Men," he raises an eyebrow, pointing out that women were not included. In "Created Equal," he takes a stab at America's founding hypocrisy--the fact that, "of the fifty-six signers, forty-one owned slaves." Isaacson makes clear he has more than history on his mind: "As we reach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration," he writes, "we are embroiled in increasingly polarized debates." But he's not taking up any debates with this book, nor is he putting forth any solutions to polarization. While it's a clever conceit, there isn't much original thinking here. (Nov.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Words that made a nation. Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers' ode to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." His close reading of the Declaration of Independence's second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document's adoption, doesn't downplay its "moral contradiction." Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery "a cruel war against human nature" in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document's 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted "all men are created equal" and possess "unalienable rights," the Founders "consciously and intentionally" excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation's "aspirations." He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, "moral compassion," and a willingness to compromise. "Democracy depends on this," he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration's "five-person drafting committee," stayed in David Hume's home for a month in the early 1770s, "discussing ideas of natural rights" with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson's discussion of the "edits and tweaks" made to Jefferson's draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson "distraught." Franklin, who emerges as the book's hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity--the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us. A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
