On the morning after the 2016 presidential election, Thomas Ricks awoke with a few questions on his mind: What kind of nation did we now have? Is it what was designed or intended by the nation’s founders? Trying to get as close to the source as he could, Ricks decided to go back and read the philosophy and literature that shaped the founders’ thinking, and the letters they wrote to each other debating these crucial works—among them the Iliad, Plutarch’s Lives, and the works of Xenophon, Epicurus, Aristotle, Cato, and Cicero. For though much attention has been paid the influence of English political philosophers, like John Locke, closer to their own era, the founders were far more immersed in the literature of the ancient world.

2016年总统大选后的早上，托马斯·里克斯醒来时脑子里有几个问题：我们现在拥有一个什么样的国家？它是国家创立者设计或意图的吗？为了尽可能接近源头，里克斯决定回去阅读影响创始人思想的哲学和文学作品，以及他们给彼此写的信，其中包括《伊利亚特》、《普鲁塔克的一生》以及色诺芬、伊壁鸠鲁、亚里士多德、卡托和西塞罗的著作。因为尽管许多人关注英国政治哲学家的影响，例如约翰·洛克，更接近他们自己的时代，但创始人们更专注于古代世界的文学。