Few Americans take the time to consider just how young our country really is. We've only been a civilized nation for just over two hundred years. Our connections to our forefathers our much closer then any of us may realize. In American Connections: The Founding Fathers, Networked, author James Burke leads us through a dizzying path from each founding father up to the modern era and men who share their names today.

Using methods that he has employed in his previous books, now known as "six degrees of separation", Burke takes each Founding Father and devotes a separate chapter them. He outlines their lives at the time of the signing and then starts coursing outwards, naming off someone connected to them, and so on, and so on. The connections take us through the invention of the first comic strip, the discovery of saccharine, the battle of Waterloo, the dropping of the atomic bomb, all the way up to the man that inspired the commander-in-chief of The West Wing. We are introduced to some of the most infamous political manipulators, royal sloths, scientific genius, and all around good guys.

For those that are looking for an in-depth history lesson this isn't the book for you. Each Founding Father is given about 3-4 pages of quick-draw history. It's also definitely not for children, due to some of the indelicate histories of the individuals involved. It is a fun piece though and highly amusing. The author has a wonderful sense of humor which is obvious in each and every snarky paranthetical comment. I absolutely loved it and I recommend it if you're looking for a laugh and want to pick up some odd bits of trivia along the way.
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Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 3, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0743282264
ISBN-13: 978-0743282260
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