A Republic of Scoundrels: The Schemers, Intriguers, and Adventurers Who Created a New American Nation

Historians Head (A Crisis of Peace) and Hemmis demonstrate in this wide-ranging and entertaining collection how Revolutionary-era America was “a time of fluid national identity.” Aiming to explore the “full, contradictory” story of America’s origins, the editors assemble a team of fellow historians to profile a wide range of “self-interested and sometimes unscrupulous individuals” whom, the editors argue, should also be considered America’s “founders.” Subjects include Revolutionary War traitor Benedict Arnold, “one of the greatest scoundrels in American history”; Irish-born congressman Matthew Lyon, a member of the House of Representatives who “mocked the president, brawled on the chamber floor, and spat in a colleague’s face”; Thomas Green, who launched an attack against Spanish Natchez (in modern day Mississippi) on behalf of the state of Georgia; the Kemper brothers—Reuben, Nathan, and Samuel—who instigated “a rebellion that threatened the uneasy peace between the United States and Spain in the Gulf South”; and Aaron Burr, who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804 and afterward plotted to found a new country west of the Appalachian mountains. While some entries are more accomplished than others, together they add up to an informative volume that successfully portrays America’s founding as a rocky and complicated affair. Revolutionary War buffs will be engrossed. (Dec.)