Review Of Miracle At Philadelphia
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Drinker, Catherine Bowen. Miracle at Philadelphia: The Constitutional Congress.
New York: Book-Of-The-Month Club, Inc., 1986
Catherine Drinker Bowen is the author of many historical, non-fiction, in-depth looks at different events and the personalities and tribulations that forged them. She has written a total of more than 30 books on the United States and its beginnings. Mrs. Bowen has an education in American literature and is a major in literature. She has experience in the field by writing so many books and including so much first-person perspective in her books. She also researches her facts and notes extensively, so her books are very, if not completely accurate.
Miracle at Philadelphia is, plainly, an in-depth look at the forming of the Constitution of the United States from an “onlooker” point-of-view. It chronicles the beginning of the Congress, where the delegates decided to completely rewrite the Articles of Confederation instead of amend them, to the end, where the Bill of Rights was added to persuade opponents of the Constitution to ratify it. It also has the speeches, arguments, and fiery debates of the Congress in a first-person view, and describes the oratories, such as Patrick Henry, with an excellent tenacity.
Mrs. Bowen wrote Miracle at Philadelphia to show the common person that even though the Constitution may seem to be perfect at the present day, the process in which it was created was not. This book differs from all others like it because it has the first-person views that Catherine Bowen includes, instead of a “research stereotype” like all others are. She has the oratories of the Constitution in full-blaze, instead of a doctor or a researcher explaining what it was or what they were trying to say. She also wrote the book to show the humanism of the founding fathers and how they were just people like everyone else, who wanted things to be satisfactory for everyone, and the struggles they put up for their own personal home state.
Mrs. Bowen has absolutely blown the competition out of the water with this book. Its an accurate, although sometimes not spellbinding, presentation of a subject that can be interesting at points for everyone.