Bailyn, Bernard. To begin the world anew: the genius and ambiguities of the American founders.

BAILYN, Bernard. TO begin the world anew: the genius and ambiguities of the American founders. Random House, Vintage. 192p. illus. bibliog. c2003. 0-375-71308-5. $13.00. SA

Noted Harvard historian Bailyn looks carefully at the era of the founders in general and at Jefferson and Franklin in particular in these essays on the originality of the 18th-century American political thinkers. His prose is liquid, highly accessible, and exceptionally informative on the mindsets and the personalities of the period.

In his essay on Jefferson, he studies the contradictions and ambiguities of this complex man. In the essay on Franklin, he draws a charming word portrait of the American envoy in Paris, using the paintings, drawings and memorabilia that the French created to immortalize him. Most useful, perhaps, is Bailyn's essay on the Federalist papers, their authors and their format. Valuable reading for AP history students and all history teachers. Pat Moore, Brookline, MA