Overview

Biographers, journalists, and satirists have long used the subject of sex to define the masculine character and political authority of America's Founding Fathers. Tracing these commentaries on the Revolutionary Era's major political figures in Sex and the Founding Fathers, Thomas Foster shows how continual attempts to reveal the true character of these men instead exposes much more about Americans and American culture than about the Founders themselves.    Sex and the Founding Fathers examines the remarkable and varied assessments of the intimate lives of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and Gouverneur Morris from their own time to ours. Interpretations can change radically; consider how Jefferson has been variously idealized as a chaste widower, condemned as a child molester, and recently celebrated as a multicultural hero.     Foster considers the public and private images of these generally romanticized leaders to show how each generation uses them to reshape and reinforce American civic and national identity.   

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9781439911020

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Reviews

Sex and the Founding Fathers is a lively book on a topic whose time, as the author emphasizes, has not so much come as never departed. Americans have always been interested in the private lives of the Founders, and Foster is a trustworthy guide, whose ample research yields very fine interpretive judgment of their life stories. In this original book, he argues that the shape of our interest in the Founders' intimate and personal stories has largely tracked changes in the history of sexuality in the United States. His chapter on Washington is convincing, his chapter on Adams is delightful, and his chapter on Hamilton was perhaps my favorite - I learned much that I didn't know. - David Waldstreicher, Professor of History, Temple University Sex and the Founding Fathers examines the changing attitudes of Americans toward six of the so-called Founding Fathers in terms of their 'intimate lives.' Foster shows that the enduring need to see Revolutionary leaders as models and as mirrors of our own values has shaped the ways in which biographers and other writers have depicted or suppressed the sexual histories of these individuals. He does a fine job of showing how cultural trends in general and changing attitudes toward sex in particular have influenced the tone and content of 'Founding Father' biographies over the past two centuries. - Richard Godbeer, Professor of History, University of Miami In this concise, engaging book, Foster explores the intimate lives of six Founding Fathers, and, more importantly, the way their sex lives have been presented and analyzed over the years. Focusing on George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and the oft-forgotten Gouverneur Morris, Foster deftly demonstrates the ways these men's private lives have been essentially rewritten to present the normative, virtuous, and manly Founders Americans choose to believe in... Proving that you can't trust biographers, Foster ably reveals that sex has always factored into national identity and that the Founders were flesh-and-blood men, unable to support idealistic American standards of morality. - Publishers Weekly

"""Sex and the Founding Fathers is a lively book on a topic whose time, as the author emphasizes, has not so much come as never departed. Americans have always been interested in the private lives of the Founders, and Foster is a trustworthy guide, whose ample research yields very fine interpretive judgment of their life stories. In this original book, he argues that the shape of our interest in the Founders' intimate and personal stories has largely tracked changes in the history of sexuality in the United States. His chapter on Washington is convincing, his chapter on Adams is delightful, and his chapter on Hamilton was perhaps my favorite - I learned much that I didn't know."" - David Waldstreicher, Professor of History, Temple University ""Sex and the Founding Fathers examines the changing attitudes of Americans toward six of the so-called Founding Fathers in terms of their 'intimate lives.' Foster shows that the enduring need to see Revolutionary leaders as models and as mirrors of our own values has shaped the ways in which biographers and other writers have depicted or suppressed the sexual histories of these individuals. He does a fine job of showing how cultural trends in general and changing attitudes toward sex in particular have influenced the tone and content of 'Founding Father' biographies over the past two centuries."" - Richard Godbeer, Professor of History, University of Miami ""In this concise, engaging book, Foster explores the intimate lives of six Founding Fathers, and, more importantly, the way their sex lives have been presented and analyzed over the years. Focusing on George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and the oft-forgotten Gouverneur Morris, Foster deftly demonstrates the ways these men's private lives have been essentially rewritten to present the normative, virtuous, and manly Founders Americans choose to believe in... Proving that you can't trust biographers, Foster ably reveals that sex has always factored into national identity and that the Founders were flesh-and-blood men, unable to support idealistic American standards of morality."" - Publishers Weekly ""Foster reveals how each generation has sought to understand the founders as human beings... It is through exploring these men as people that we understand and relate to them. As times and social mores about masculinity and sexuality have changed, so have interpretations of these men and their personal lives. VERDICT: Foster is looking at the how and why of his subjects. Readers looking for...a better understanding of how and why biographers explore these topics, and why we care, should look to this fascinating and well-written work."" - Library Journal ""Foster traces how the sex lives (what we know about them, which in most cases is not much) have changed in biographies over time from right after the Revolutionary War to now. It is a fascinating look at how society has perceived the Founders, and the importance of their sex lives is to the public."" - The Researching Librarian"

In this concise, engaging book, Foster ( Sex and the Eighteenth-Century Man ) explores the intimate lives of six Founding Fathers, and, more importantly, the way their sex lives have been presented and analyzed over the years. Focusing on George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and the oft-forgotten Gouverneur Morris, Foster deftly demonstrates the ways these men's private lives have been essentially rewritten to present the normative, virtuous, and manly Founders Americans choose to believe in. Drawing primarily from popular biographies, from the colonial era through present day, the book explores the ways biographers present their subjects in response to the times: strict Victorian morals, Freudian psychoanalysis, and contemporary attempts to embrace, rather than hide, all aspects of their lives. Foster addresses the glossing over of Washington's lack of children (perhaps he was sterile, but god forbid he was impotent), the refashioning of Franklin's Parisian affairs as the harmless pleasures of a foxy grandpa, and the romanticized marriage of John and Abigail Adams--the Romeo and Juliet of the American Revolution. Proving that you can't trust biographers, Foster ably reveals that sex has always factored into national identity and that the Founders were flesh-and-blood men, unable to support idealistic American standards of morality. --Publishers Weekly

Author Information

Thomas A. Foster is Associate Professor in the History Department at DePaul University. He is the author of Sex and the Eighteenth-Century Man: Massachusetts and the History of Sexuality in America and the editor of three books, the most recent being Documenting Intimate Matters: Primary Sources for a History of Sexuality in America.

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