“Joseph J. Ellis has emerged
as an eloquent champion and
brilliant practitioner
of the old-fashioned
art of biography.”
Forrest McDonald
The New York Times Book Review
Joseph J. Ellis is one of the nation's leading scholars of American history. The author of fourteen books, Ellis was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation and won the National Book Award for American Sphinx, a biography of Thomas Jefferson. His in-depth chronicle of the life of our first President, His Excellency: George Washington, was a New York Times bestseller.
Ellis’ most recent book, GREAT CONTRADICTIONS has been described as "a major new history" of the founding era. With narrative grace and a flair for irony and paradox, Ellis addresses the questions that lie at America's twisted roots -- questions that turned even the sharpest minds of the Revolutionary generation into mental contortionists. He discusses the first debates around slavery and the treatment of Native Americans, from the Constitutional Convention to the Treaty of New York, revealing the thinking and rationalizations behind Jay, Hamilton, and Madison's revisions of the Articles of Confederation, and highlights the key role of figures like Quaker abolitionist Anthony Benezet and Creek chief Alexander McGillivray.
A frequent contributor to Ken Burns' celebrates films, Ellis is featured in THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, a new film by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt, now airing on PBS.
Ellis' essays and book reviews appear regularly in national publications, such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The New Republic, and The New Yorker. Ellis' commentaries have been featured on CBS, CSPAN, CNN, and the PBS's the News Hour, and he has appeared in several PBS documentaries on earlly America, including "John and Abigail (Adams)" a History Channel documentary on George Washington.
Educated at the College of William and Mary and Yale University, Ellis has taught in the Leadership Studies program at Williams College, the Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts, Mount Holyoke College, where he also served as Dean of the Faculty, and the United States Military Academy at West Point. He lives in Vermont with his wife, Ellen Wilkins Ellis, and two big Labradoodles.
He is the father of three adult sons.
Biography
Joseph J. Ellis
Click to Order
