First Principles: What America’s Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country - Thomas E. Ricks
Shared by:professoramoretti@gmail.com
Written by
Read by James Lurie
Format: MP3
Unabridged
“Ricks knocks it out of the park with this jewel of a book. On every page I learned something new. Read it every night if you want to restore your faith in our country.” (James Mattis, General, US Marines (ret.) and 26th secretary of defense)
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and number one New York Times best-selling author offers a revelatory new book about the founding fathers, examining their educations and, in particular, their devotion to the ancient Greek and Roman classics - and how that influence would shape their ideals and the new American nation.
On the morning after the 2016 presidential election, Thomas Ricks awoke with a few questions on his mind: What kind of nation did we now have? Is it what was designed or intended by the nation’s founders? Trying to get as close to the source as he could, Ricks decided to go back and read the philosophy and literature that shaped the founders’ thinking and the letters they wrote to each other debating these crucial works - among them the Iliad, Plutarch’s Lives, and the works of Xenophon, Epicurus, Aristotle, Cato, and Cicero. For though much attention has been paid the influence of English political philosophers, like John Locke, closer to their own era, the founders were far more immersed in the literature of the ancient world.
The first four American presidents came to their classical knowledge differently. Washington absorbed it mainly from the elite culture of his day; Adams from the laws and rhetoric of Rome; Jefferson immersed himself in classical philosophy, especially Epicureanism; and Madison, both a groundbreaking researcher and a deft politician, spent years studying the ancient world like a political scientist. Each of their experiences, and distinctive learning, played an essential role in the formation of the United States. In examining how and what they studied, looking at them in the unusual light of the classical world, Ricks is able to draw arresting and fresh portraits of men we thought we knew.
First Principles follows these four members of the Revolutionary generation from their youths to their adult lives, as they grappled with questions of independence and forming and keeping a new nation. In doing so, Ricks interprets not only the effect of the ancient world on each man, and how that shaped our constitution and government, but offers startling new insights into these legendary leaders.
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| Creation Date: | Tue, 05 Jan 2021 23:05:48 +0000 |
| This is a Multifile Torrent | |
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| Combined File Size: | 651.48 MBs |
| Piece Size: | 1 MB |
| Comment: | Updated by AudioBook Bay |
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This post has 9 comments with rating of 5/5
January 6th, 2021
This looks great– thanks very much!
January 6th, 2021
Looks interesting.
Thank you so much!
January 6th, 2021
Polybius could be appended to that list; the importance & durability of a balanced constitution; and historical reflections on natural law. Significantly (& worryingly), they didn’t think, based on their studies, that a larger, unwieldy republic could long endure. But everything’s unprecedented till it happens for the first time.
January 6th, 2021
Thanks Prof!
Always room in the old noggin for some nog filling
January 6th, 2021
Thanks. Some good listening while I bask in the tears of Trumpflakes as they lose not only the presidency, but the Senate tonight as well. Rekt.
January 7th, 2021
I was just watching C-span and a Senator was talking about the fall of Roman Republic when armed gangs prevented Senators voting. Well timed upload. Thank you
April 15th, 2021
Thank you for this. It’s always important to recall that despite the fact the United States is called a Democracy, it is in fact a Republic with Democratic elements. The Founding Fathers learned from the mistakes the Athenians made with a rigorous Democracy and never wanted that for their descendants. This is an important work, and I’m thankful for its inclusion.
Good audio quality. Fast download. Thanks to the OG Uploader and to the Seeders.
April 1st, 2023
Someone please seed!!
April 6th, 2026
Would love a seeder if anyone is available <3
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