Joseph Ellis

The author of twelve books, Ellis was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation and won the National Book Award for American Sphinx, a biography of Thomas Jefferson. He has written an acclaimed biography of George Washington (His Excellency), a biography of the marriage of John and Abigail Adams (The First Family), and in depth retellings of the Revolutionary War and the improvisations and debates that led to the founding of America.

Ellis’s latest work, The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding, reckons with the failure of America’s founders to live up to their ideals by allowing slavery and Indian removal. His work, The Cause, is an epic narrative account of the origins and clashing ideologies of America’s revolutionary period. His 2018 book, American Dialogue: The Founders and Us, examining Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Adams through today’s most pressing topics.

In addition to frequent public lectures, Joseph’s commentaries have been featured on CSPAN, CNN, and PBS’s Lehrer News Hour, and he has appeared in several documentaries on early America. A professor of history, Joseph has taught in the Leadership Studies program at Williams College, the Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts, Mount Holyoke College, and the United States Military Academy at West Point.

He lives in Western Massachusetts with his wife Eillen Wilkins Ellis and two dogs.

Ellis immerses us in the lifelike details of our founding fathers while showing the big picture of how their decisions led to our current moment. Joseph is available for virtual lectures and engagements on American Revolutionary history, interpreting the Constitution, political ethics, and more.