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The Federalist Papers Reader
The Federalist Papers rank with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as basic statements of American democracy.
The 23 most relevant essays, written by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, have been gathered here by historian Frederick Quinn.
248 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 23, 2009
[Might right a full review when I'm done. For now, see the note below about other books on The Federalist Papers.:]
In addition to this book, which is a selection of the 85 essays, I checked out a complete edition of all 85 essays from the library. [The Federalist, edited by Jacob Cooke: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20... It also seems (when I was hunting for the link) that there must have been a revised edition in 1982, but I grabbed the 1961 edition from the library.] I read the introduction to the Cooke edition, and it has a good amount about the history surrounding the debate over who wrote which essays. Summary: The essays were originally published (mostly in newspapers) under the pseudonym of Publius by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. (The bulk were written by Hamilton & Madison; Jay contributed about five or six and then got sick, I believe.) Of the 85 we are still unsure exactly who wrote about 20 of them. (I think the precise number is 19, but whatever.) There are several disagreeing sources which are used to attempt to resolve this conundrum -- reports from contemporary compilation editors, supposed lists left by Hamilton & Madison, Hamilton's son, etc. -- but most likely it will never be resolved. If you're interested in that bit of history, you might want to check out this book, too. I don't recall seeing that in the introduction(s) to the Quinn book.
In addition to this book, which is a selection of the 85 essays, I checked out a complete edition of all 85 essays from the library. [The Federalist, edited by Jacob Cooke: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20... It also seems (when I was hunting for the link) that there must have been a revised edition in 1982, but I grabbed the 1961 edition from the library.] I read the introduction to the Cooke edition, and it has a good amount about the history surrounding the debate over who wrote which essays. Summary: The essays were originally published (mostly in newspapers) under the pseudonym of Publius by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. (The bulk were written by Hamilton & Madison; Jay contributed about five or six and then got sick, I believe.) Of the 85 we are still unsure exactly who wrote about 20 of them. (I think the precise number is 19, but whatever.) There are several disagreeing sources which are used to attempt to resolve this conundrum -- reports from contemporary compilation editors, supposed lists left by Hamilton & Madison, Hamilton's son, etc. -- but most likely it will never be resolved. If you're interested in that bit of history, you might want to check out this book, too. I don't recall seeing that in the introduction(s) to the Quinn book.
September 9, 2008
I read this again recently. Now that I don't work in a book store I actually have time to read. This was a nice reminder of hope before greed.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews