Founding Brothers Lesson Plan

What is the function of a preface? How do you think the preface will relate to the rest of the book?

Ellis uses his preface to give some background on his historical period, to outline his central questions, to contextualize his scholarship, and to sketch out what will follow in the rest of the book. Students can speculate about the kind of history they expect from the book given what they have read in the preface. They can consider how much time Ellis will spend on the authoring of historical documents, the development of revolutionary ideals, the debate over slavery, the creation of political institutions, and biographical information about his eight central figures, all...