American Connections

THE FOUNDING FATHERS. NETWORKED.


In AMERICAN CONNECTIONS: The Founding Fathers. Networked. (Simon &
Schuster Trade Paperbacks; July 2007; $17.00), James Burke –
best-selling writer, television host, and world-renowned authority on
the history of technology and science – returns to the format of his
perennially popular book, Connections. Exploring the interconnections
between the men who signed the Declaration of Independence and a
countless array of artists, writers, scientists, politicians,
trendsetters and scoundrels who came after them, AMERICAN CONNECTIONS
celebrates the "six degrees of separation" that make history both
fascinating and relevant. With his trademark irreverent wit and
astounding erudition, Burke employs a dazzling narrative legerdemain
as he brings each of the fifty-six historical threads full-circle to a
modern-day bearer of the Founding Father's name.
Burke begins each chapter with a thumbnail sketch of the Declaration
signer, often dispelling the notion that these iconic figures (many of
them now virtually forgotten) were men of perfect principles. John
Hancock, for instance, was an egomaniac whom nobody liked. Samuel
Chase was "universally despised… a foul-mouthed rabble-rouser." Carter
Braxton's complexion "reflected the glow of a good Madeira." John Hart
slept in a doghouse. Richard Stockton changed his mind, repudiating
his signature and swearing allegiance to the king (albeit after being
caught and imprisoned by the British).
After reintroducing these history-making men, Burke then takes
readers on mini-tours through time. With numerous stops along the
way, Benjamin Franklin's connections take us from that remarkable
American Renaissance man to "Owl and the Pussycat" poet Edward Lear,
then onto early chain-bookstore pioneer W.H. Smith, Florence
Nightingale, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Carl Zeiss. Thomas Jefferson
leads to an Italian political philosopher named Cesare Beccaria, who
first "measured" the meter, to James Smithson (he of the Smithsonian
Institution), to the inventor of the kaleidoscope, the discovery of
hay fever, an early proponent of anesthesia, and Albert Einstein. From
John Adams, known in his day as "His Rotundity," we meet teacher of
the deaf Thomas Gallaudet, Sir Walter Scott, J.M.W. Turner, and
Clementine Hozier (wife of Winston Churchill).