Virtue, Valor, and Vanity

by Burns, Eric

• ISBN13: 9781559708876
• ISBN10: 1559708875
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-12-03
• Publisher: Arcade Pub

Summary

We think of them now as faces on money or statues on pedestals, and, as Burns shows here in luminous prose, that's exactly what they wanted to be. They all possessed astonishing brilliance, expansive egos, and more than just a little vanity. In this fresh perspective, Burns brings the Founding Fathers down off their pedestals to reveals the flesh-and-blood men-vain and modest, sensitive and stubborn, brilliant and ambitious-who overcame their faults and squabbles to establish a new nation that would shine as a paragon of governance. For the armchair historian, here is an exciting new look at our country's origins. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Eric Burns hosts AE's Arts Entertainment Revue. A former Fox News Watch host, NBC News correspondent, and Today Show pundit, he lives with his wife in Westport, Connecticut

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Crew of the Concord	p. ix
The Beginnings of Celebrity
The Roman Republic	p. 3
The American in Paris	p. 13
Americans at Home	p. 25
The Ingredients of Renown
Ambition	p. 57
Vanity	p. 79
Modesty	p. 91
Jealousy	p. 105
Image	p. 129
Myth	p. 145
The Last Days of Famous Men
A Simple Epitaph	p. 163
The Tombstone at Red Hill	p. 169
An Early Death	p. 175
The Tourist Attraction	p. 181
A Message to the Future	p. 187
John Adams Survives	p. 193
Epilogue: The Autograph of a Not-So-Famous Man	p. 199
Acknowledgments	p. 207
Notes	p. 209
Bibliography	p. 225
Index	p. 233
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