The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution 1783-1789

Joseph Ellis is an engaging writer, and The Quartet is an intelligent analysis of the period between American independence and the ratification of the Constitution. The Quartet is much more detailed and analytical than his earlier work, but Ellis still has an unfortunate tendency to focus too much on the political leaders of the moment — in this case, the quartet of Washington, Madison, Jay, and Hamilton — at the expense of the popular movements and institutional arrangements that pressured their decisions.