Outside of the financial reporting of certain car companies, SPAC promoters and countless others, I haven't read fiction in ~30 years. Limited, I know. Outside of investing/business reading, I love US history, particularly the American Revolution. In the spirit of the 4th, 1/ 
I thought it would be fun sharing some favorites. Mostly bios and written from the "great man" perspective. To McCullough, Adams was the greatest; but to Chernow and Ellis it was Washington. Of course, when Ellis wrote on Jefferson he was the man and so forth. All were great. 2/
What's remarkable about these giants of the revolution is the risk they took in rebellion from England. Captured, the signers of the Declaration and other revolutionaries would have hung. It's amazing how young many of them were. Franklin was the elder statesman at age 70. 3/
Jefferson was 33 when writing the Declaration in 1776.
Adams was 40. Washington (not a signer) was 44. The average age of the signers was 44. A dozen were 35 or younger. The Federalist Papers, written as articles in 1787 and 1788 under the name "Publius" are essential reading. 4/
Adams was 40. Washington (not a signer) was 44. The average age of the signers was 44. A dozen were 35 or younger. The Federalist Papers, written as articles in 1787 and 1788 under the name "Publius" are essential reading. 4/
The 85 Federalist Papers argued brilliantly for a new constitution. They were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. These guys didn't spend time on Twitter, but instead were devout students of the great Greek and Roman philosophers like Aristotle and Cato. 5/
Lesson here in minimizing distraction and noise. Easier pre phones, auto/air travel & the internet for sure, though I'll take the modern quality of life. The Federalist authors, as were Jefferson, Adams and Franklin, were influenced by Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Montesquieu. 6/
"Conceived in Liberty" at the top of the stack is a 4-volume (actually @mises just released what was an uncompleted 5th) history of the US. Rothbard was extraordinary. I've read the first 3 so far. The set is available at the Mises Institute website. 7/ mises.org/library/books
The Cato Institute has a very inexpensive pocket Declaration and Constitution that I buy in bulk and have given as countless gifts. For nearly every 4th of July for three decades I've read these along with the USGA Rules of Golf. Random...8/
cato.org/books/cato-poc…
cato.org/books/cato-poc…
Missing from the stack is a wonderful series of letters between John and Abigail Adams. Beautiful and demonstrate how harsh times were. Abigail gets too little credit as a Founder. First Second Lady, Second First Lady and mother of the 6th President. 9/ amazon.com/Letters-John-A…
One additional book missing from my stack. Jim Grant (yes, interest rate Jim @GrantsPub) penned a wonderful bio of John Adams, "Party of One" that I must have loaned out (I'd love it back - you know who you are). 10/ amazon.com/John-Adams-Par…
Finally, how about the "coincidence" that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the SAME day in 1826. July 4th - exactly 50 years to the day of signing of the Declaration. John Quincy called it, "a visible and palpable manifestation of Divine Favor." Happy Independence Day!🇺🇸
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