PORTABLE PROFESSOR™ is a series of exciting and informative lectures recorded by some of today's most renowned university and college professors. Each course introduces listeners to fascinating, and sometimes startling, insights into the intellectual forces that shape our understanding of the world. Each package includes 14 riveting lectures presented by notable professors as well as a book-length course guide.

Perhaps the most politically explosive time in American history occurred during the nation's founding, when an extraordinary generation wrested control of the American colonies from England and gave birth to a new, democratic nation. In this riveting series of lectures, award-winning author and professor Joseph J. Ellis invokes the spirit of the revolutionary period by examining the personalities of the remarkable men who fought for-as well as crafted the blueprint for-the creation of the United States.

COURSE LECTURES

The Revolution and the GenerationAnglo-America in 1763 and Benjamin FranklinThe Constitutional Crisis, 1763-74, and John AdamsThe Imperial Crisis, 1763-75, and George WashingtonThe Spirit of '76 and Thomas JeffersonWhat the Declaration DeclaredThe Long War, 1775-83, and Joseph Plumb MartinConfederation to Constitution and Alexander HamiltonA More Perfect Union and James MadisonThe Ghost at the Banquet: SlaveryCrucial Decade: The Federalist AgendaCrucial Decade: Party PoliticsThe Restoration of 1800American Dialogue: Adams and Jefferson
Joseph J. Ellis is the Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College. After attending the College of William and Mary and Yale University, he served as a captain in the U.S. Army and taught at West Point before joining the faculty at Mount Holyoke. Ellis is the author of several books, including the National Book Award—winning American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson and Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation.