Ellis constructed his book by assessing certain events during the decade following the 1787 Constitutional Convention, He chooses to do this not in any systematic or comprehensive manner, but by focusing on a half-dozen political personages (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr) and a handful of revealing episodes that would test their convictions and friendships.

[1]He notes that Ellis borrowed his technique from Lytton Strachey's classic study, Eminent Victorians, about notable English figures.

Joyce Appleby of The Washington Post Book World commented that, "In lesser hands the fractious disputes and hysterical rhetoric of these contentious nation-builders might come across as hyperbolic pettiness.

Ellis knows better, and he unpacks the real issues for his readers, revealing the driving assumptions and riveting fears that animated Americans' first encounter with the organized ideologies and interests we call parties.

[4] In 2011 Ellis co-authored a screen statement with a former student, Daliah Leslie in an effort to make a feature film adaptation.