A fair amount of time has passed since I added a new recommendation to the Bookshelf. Today, I right that wrong.
I was first introduced to the writing style of Thomas E. Ricks in his study of US Military leadership titled The Generals. Less a history and more of an organizational biography, The Generals tracks the evolution of senior leadership practices in the US Army and Marine Corps from the world wars to present day.
Even years removed from my first read, I find myself returning to his work periodically when I’m thinking through organizational leadership challenges. That’s why, since I first published the Bookshelf page of this site, Ricks has been featured in my little corner of the web. But earlier this month I finally picked up his latest work First Principles, and I think he’s earned another spot on the shelf.
Let me open with a caveat: I disagree with some of the concluding recommendations he shares. That being said, he’s done something rare in studies of our founding generation: he revealed something different to discuss.
I’ve read more books on the founding fathers, and their times, than I should admit. It’s a favored period for this particular idealist. I admire the founding generation – flaws and all – for the optimistic spirit they found a way to codify. Or, as Ricks states: “I have learned in researching this book that America is a moving target, a goal that must always be pursued but never quite reached.”
But for the countless volumes written about that generation, it’s not often that I find something new to ponder.
In First Principles we step away from the common historical storytelling, and instead focus on the educational experiences that guided public men of the era: the classics as understood and professed by academics of the Scottish enlightenment.
Ricks dives into the shared influence of Roman and Greek virtue (and some vice) on Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison. Without dedicating too much real estate to the events, or realpolitik, of the founding, Ricks avoids the humdrum of biographical histories. What’s more, he moves beyond the founding era to show the decline of the very classicism that shaped our earliest days. Directly, yet evenhandedly, he shows the founders falling out of sync as America expanded and came to terms with the flaws in their plan (i.e. their failure to abolish slavery).
Our founders achieved something remarkable. Durable and amendable, their experiment has set the stage for Americans to do what they do best: pursue their own happiness. Ricks reminds us though, that the founding generation can still teach us something about public virtue and the duties that should share equal prominence with the freedoms we enjoy.
There has never been a time in American politics free of division. From the outset, we’ve disagreed over the role and scope of government. There’s truly nothing new about today’s arguments. But maybe it’s time we pause to reflect on the virtues that informed our founding and our friction along the way. Who knows, we may just learn a thing or two from the likes of Cato, Cicero, and Cincinnatus.
If you think you may agree, pick up a copy of First Principles by Thomas Ricks. It’ll be worth it.
Part of the Possible 