George H. Nash graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College and received his Ph.D. degree in history from Harvard University. A historian and author several books, including a multivolume biography of Herbert Hoover and The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 (ISI Books), he writes and lectures frequently about American conservatism.

In this volume spiced with anecdotes and enhanced by primary source documents, George H. Nash examines how books, libraries, and a rigorous classical education molded the minds and lives of America's Founding Fathers. More than any other group of political leaders in our history, the statesmen who led and preserved the American Revolution were men of learning as well as men of power. Nash shows how their devotion to liberty was nourished and refined by their lifelong encounter with the world of books, including the foundational texts of western civilization.