The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers

( 19 )
Pick Up In Store

Pick Up in Store

Reserve and pick up in 60 minutes at your local store

Paperback
$12.94
BN.com price
$15.99 List Price (Save 19%)
Marketplace (New and Used)
from
$2.63
$15.99 List Price (Save 84%)
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
All (32)  
Used (11)  
New (21)  
Close
Sort by
Page 1 of 4
Showing 1 – 10 of 32 (4 pages)
$2.63
(Save 84%)
G. Donner
Seller since 2007

Feedback rating:

(207)

Condition:

New — never opened or used in original packaging.

Like New — packaging may have been opened. A "Like New" item is suitable to give as a gift.

Very Good — may have minor signs of wear on packaging but item works perfectly and has no damage.

Good — item is in good condition but packaging may have signs of shelf wear/aging or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Acceptable — item is in working order but may show signs of wear such as scratches or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Used — An item that has been opened and may show signs of wear. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Refurbished — A used item that has been renewed or updated and verified to be in proper working condition. Not necessarily completed by the original manufacturer.

Good
Tight copy, unamrked text BUt has some corner wear.

Ships from: Siloam Springs, AR

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$4.60
(Save 71%)
-SuperBookDeals
Seller since 2012

Feedback rating:

(759)

Condition: Good
Usually ships within 1-2 business days. All USA orders shipped via USPS with delivery confirmation, please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. USPS does not provide delivery ... confirmation for APO/FPO addresses or addresses outside of the 50 US states. No guarantee on products that contain supplements and some products may include highlighting and writing. We are dedicated to 100% customer satisfaction. Read more Show Less

Ships from: Shepherdsville, KY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$4.61
(Save 71%)
spellbound PA
Seller since 2005

Feedback rating:

(9713)

Condition: New
11/9/2010 Paperback Reprint New 0061139130 NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Publisher overstock. --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--

Ships from: McKeesport, PA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$7.04
(Save 56%)
Extremely_Reliable
Seller since 2007

Feedback rating:

(3184)

Condition: Good
Buy with confidence. Excellent Customer Service & Return policy.

Ships from: Richmond, TX

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$7.93
(Save 50%)
Books Any
Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(1916)

Condition: New
2010 Trade paperback New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 456 p. Contains: Illustrations.

Ships from: Valley Stream, NY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$9.08
(Save 43%)
Great Book Deals
Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(12283)

Condition: New
Absolutely Brand New & In Stock. 100% 30-Day Money Back. Direct from our warehouse. Over 5+ Million Customers served. In business since 1997. Happy Customers is Our #1 Goal. ... Customer Service toll free upport Monday-Friday EST Hrs. 4 to 14 business day Delivery Time by US Post Office. Read more Show Less

Ships from: Oldsmar, FL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$9.68
(Save 39%)
PaperbackshopUS
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(4793)

Condition: New
Shipped from US in 4 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$9.68
(Save 39%)
ExpeditedBooksUS
Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(887)

Condition: New
Shipped from US. Express shipping in 3 to 6 business days. Standard shipping in 4 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$9.76
(Save 39%)
indoo
Seller since 2007

Feedback rating:

(21684)

Condition: New
BRAND NEW

Ships from: Avenel, NJ

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$9.83
(Save 39%)
PaperbackshopUS
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(4793)

Condition: New
This item will be shipped from our warehouse in Chicago.

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
Page 1 of 4
Showing 1 – 10 of 32 (4 pages)
Close
Sort by
NOOK Book (eBook)
$10.99
BN.com price

Available on NOOK devices and apps

  • Nook Devices
  • NOOK
  • NOOK Color
  • NOOK Tablet
  • Tablet/Phone
  • NOOK for iPad
  • NOOK for iPhone
  • NOOK for Android
  • NOOK for Android (Tablet)
  • NOOK Kids for iPad
  • PC/Mac
  • NOOK Study
  • NOOK for PC
  • NOOK for Mac

Want a NOOK? Explore Now

More About This Book

Overview

With his usual storytelling flair and unparalleled research, noted historian Thomas Fleming examines the relationships between the Founding Fathers and the women who were at the center of their lives. They were the mothers who powerfully shaped their sons' visions of domestic life, from hot-tempered Mary Ball Washington to promiscuous Rachel Lavien, Hamilton's mother. Lovers and wives played even more critical roles. We learn of the youthful Washington's tortured love for the coquettish Sarah Fairfax, a close friend's wife; of Franklin's two ?wives,? one in London and one in Philadelphia; of how lonely, deeply unhappy Abigail kept home and family together for years on end during Adams's long absences; of Hamilton's adulterous betrayal of his wife and their eventual reconciliation; of how the brilliant Madison, jilted by a flirtatious fifteen-year-old, went on to marry the effervescent Dolley, who helped make this shy man into a popular president. Jefferson's controversial relationship with Sally Hemings is also examined, reinterpreting where his heart truly lay.

Editorial Reviews

Curled Up with a Good Book
This is better than any history book you’ve ever read.
Justin Moyer
JFK had Marilyn Monroe, and Bill Clinton had Monica, but that doesn't mean 20th-century presidents had all the fun. "Knowing and understanding the women in their lives adds pathos and depth to the public dimensions of the founding fathers' political journeys," Thomas Fleming writes in this well-researched peek into the boudoirs of America's political architects.
—The Washington Post
More Reviews (3) Fewer Reviews
Publishers Weekly
In this solid, sometimes titillating account, novelist and historian Fleming (The Perils of Peace) draws parallels to today's media obsession with our leaders' sex lives. The media were obsessed at the nation's beginning, too. As president, Washington suffered torrents of abuse, sometimes personal, but his marriage to Martha remained happy, although unconvincing efforts to find affairs, illegitimate children and slave mistresses persist to this day. The most genial founding father, Benjamin Franklin, had a shockingly bad family life with a jealous wife and dreadful relations with his son. Despite his brilliance, Alexander Hamilton behaved foolishly with women, triggering America's first public sex scandal. Fleming rocks no historical boats describing John and Abigail Adams's legendary love and agrees that Dolly brought color into the life of shy, intellectual James Madison. Jefferson's wife died young, and he focused his love on the often unhappy lives of two daughters. Examining the controversy over his slave, Sally Hemings, Fleming says evidence that he fathered her children remains inconclusive. Showing the more human and sometimes unlikable sides of our founders, the author writes good history, debunking more scandal than he confirms. (Nov)
Library Journal
Fleming (The Perils of Peace: America's Struggle for Survival After Yorktown) takes a peek at the personal and family lives of six key American figures—George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison—exploring their relationships with girlfriends, wives, children, extended family members, and, in some cases, extramarital lovers and quasi-lovers. Replete with assumptions and wild guesses, this book breaks no new ground in historical scholarship, merely providing general readers with an accessible overview of what has long been known to scholars—that the fallible Founding Fathers depended on the love and emotional support of family and others to achieve their personal and political goals. Jefferson and Sally Hemings garner special attention, with a tiresomely in-depth and opinionated examination of scholarly views and scientific inquiries surrounding this centuries-old controversy. The book's one redeeming chapter—a provocative psychological examination of Dolley and James Madison's marriage—is also the briefest and most underdeveloped. VERDICT Tacky and pointless, Fleming's lowbrow latest may have marginal appeal as recreational reading for undiscerning fans of early American history's most familiar faces. Students and scholars can certainly skip it.—Douglas King, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia
Kirkus Reviews
Popular historian Fleming (The Perils of Peace: America's Struggle for Survival After Yorktown, 2007, etc.) takes a rosy look at the enduring marriages of Washington, Franklin, Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison, despite some dalliances, separations and extreme job pressure. The author is determined to restore the honor to these great men, whose lives have been dissected ceaselessly for evidence of human fallibility-especially Jefferson, whose relationship with his slave Sally Hemings probably resulted in several children. Fleming doesn't buy it, and he's holding out for the results of DNA testing. Instead he underscores Jefferson's tender devotion to Martha Skelton, who died after ten years of marriage in 1782, leaving him with only their daughter to comfort him. Washington, despite a youthful rejection, made a spectacular match in the wealthy widow Martha Custis and was put in charge of her 17,000-acre Virginia estate. The evidence shows he grew to love his sweet-tempered, practical wife, despite their inability to have children, while she found him a manly pillar of strength and a good stepfather to her children. Franklin had an "ungovernable sex drive" and married his landlord's daughter Deborah, who was then forced to raise his illegitimate son as her own. She did not accompany him to Paris as emissary, and after she died he was a great favorite of the ladies, even proposing marriage to his beloved Madame Helvetius. In the chapters on Adams and Madison, their strong wives take over the narratives with a presidential agenda of their own-Abigail Adams as a protofeminist, and Dolly Madison as an inimitable hostess. Hamilton married a rich man's daughter, flirted with hissister-in-law, indulged in a seduction by a speculator's wife and was blackmailed by the husband. He died scrambling to repair the marriage and, we are assured, racked by guilt. Applying the kid-glove treatment to his subjects, the author doesn't unearth much that hasn't been picked over before.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780061139130
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Publication date: 11/9/2010
  • Pages: 480
  • Sales rank: 214,812
  • Product dimensions: 5.31 (w) x 8.00 (h) x 0.76 (d)

Meet the Author

Thomas Fleming is the author of more than forty books of fiction and nonfiction, most recently, The Perils of Peace. He has been the president of the Society of American Historians and of PEN American Center. Mr. Fleming is a frequent guest on C-SPAN, PBS, A&E, and the History Channel. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

Book 1 George Washington

The Agonies of Honor 3

Partner In Love and Life 19

From Great Somebody to Lady Washington 36

The Other George Washington Scandals 58

Book 2 Benjamin Franklin

The Sins of the Father 73

The Oldest Revolutionary 91

Mon Cher Papa 102

Book 3 John Adams

An Amorous Puritan Finds a Wife 125

Portia's Dubious Diplomat 141

Second Banana Blues 162

Party Of Two 177

Remembering Some Other Ladies 194

Book 4 Alexander Hamilton

Bastard Son and Wary Lover 209

The Woman in the Middle 224

Love's Secret Triumph 244

Book 5 Thomas Jefferson

Romantic Voyager 259

The Traumas of Happiness 271

Head Versus Heart 292

The Wages of Fame 309

If Jefferson Is Wrong, Is America Wrong? 328

Book 6 James Madison

A Shy Genius Makes a Conquest 355

Partners In Fame 369

How To Save a Country 388

Appendix: The Erosion of Jefferson's Image in the American Mind 409

Notes 417

Index 439

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 19 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(8)

4 Star

(2)

3 Star

(2)

2 Star

(3)

1 Star

(4)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identiy on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

We're sorry, but penname is already taken.

Please select one of the following:
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

penname is available!

By visiting the BN.com website or marking a purchase on BN.com, a User is deemed to have accepted the Terms of Use.

Continue Anonymously

Welcome, penname

You have successfully created your Pen Name. Start enjoying the benefits of the BN.com Community today.

Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 19 Customer Reviews

  • Posted December 29, 2009

    Fascinating revisit to U.S. history

    Absorbing. A very different look at the founding fathers. A great read as each biography is substantial and stands independently.
    Humanizes the subjects. Perhaps the most interesting chapter relates
    how Jefferson has been re-invented by numerous biographers in the
    183 years since his death; it makes one think of Harry Truman whose
    poll standings made it impossible for him to run for re-election in
    1952, but is now considered a "near great" president. "History"
    is not an absolute, but is constantly changing. Well researched. Fleming is a past president of the Society of American Historians.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 17, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 17, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 17, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 9, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 29, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 23, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 9, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 28, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 21, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 2, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 14, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted August 6, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted November 3, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted March 12, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 12, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 14, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 16, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 15, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 10, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 19 Customer Reviews
If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
Why is this product inappropriate?
Comments (optional)
500 character limit