In this remarkable book, the historian Jack Rakove shows how the private lives of these men were suddenly transformed into public careers--how Washington became a strategist, Franklin a pioneering cultural diplomat, Madison a sophisticated constitutional thinker, and Hamilton a brilliant policymaker. Rakove shakes off accepted notions of these men as godlike visionaries, focusing instead on the evolution of their ideas and the crystallizing of their purpose. In Revolutionaries, we see the founders before they were fully formed leaders, as individuals whose lives were radically altered by the explosive events of the mid-1770s. --from publisher description.

Prologue : the world beyond Worcester -- Advocates for the cause -- The revolt of the moderates -- The character of a general -- The first constitution makers -- Vain liberators -- The diplomats -- The optimist abroad -- The greatest lawgiver of modernity -- The state builder.