First Principles: What America’s Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country

When many people think about the Founding Fathers, they think of the Enlightenment ideas and ideals that influenced their thinking and writing and formed the foundations for republican forms of government. This book looks at four of the Founding Fathers and focuses more on how Ancient Greece and Rome influenced their thinking and the many different ways that they used their classical education and learning to shape a new nation.

This book looks at the major players, never really delving into more critical areas with any real depth. It is mostly a surface inspection of the thoughts of four of the major players in early American history. If you are looking for a critical examination, then this is probably not the book for you. However, if you are looking for a surface explanation and something that is not too convoluted, detailed, or complicated, then this book will likely suit you. Thomas Ricks does not break new ground, look at things differently, or even examine the thinking of other Founding Fathers; he seems fixated on the major ones.