Thomas E. Ricks 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. Thomas Ricks considers a few questions: What kind of nation do 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 read the philosophy and literature that shaped the founders’ thinking, and the letters they wrote to each other debating these crucial works. Each of the first four American presidents came to their classical knowledge differently, which 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 draws arresting and fresh portraits of men we thought we knew. — Adapted from Amazon.com
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This discussion will be held via Zoom; link will be emailed to attendees ahead of the event.
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225 N. High Street, West Chester, PA 19380 | 610-692-4800
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