The book I reviewed was 1787: The Great Convention by Clinton Rossiter. In it he divides the before, during and after the convention into four parts: The setting, the men, the event and the consequences. In the beginning, Mr. Rossiter created for us a country that was experiencing serious growth difficulties and which without serious help would not have become the world power that it is today. The congressional form of common government that formed during the Articles of Confederation, while not a failure, was not a success either. To finish what started with the revolution, the great minds and characters of that time had to unite and put aside the many differences they had to become a powerful government instead of a group of bickering brothers. Although Mr. Rossiter states that they did not come to Philadelphia because they all agreed that they wanted to form a new structure for their government, they felt that something had to be done or else the country they had fought so hard for became free, it would fail . The wonderful and easy understanding of the separation of all the men who were going to the convention was also prepared for the readers. They were all wealthy men with businesses, previous political experience, and degrees from various universities throughout the New World. By analyzing the names and descriptions of the framers of the Constitution we are forced to agree with the author and also with others who state that this group is the crème de la crème of the political-economic and military world such as Washington, Hamilton, Madison and Franklin. I must also admit, however, that those names were the only ones I had heard and recognised. The usefulness of this book is that it fills in many of the points that were missing in high school and elementary school classrooms. People who are given only 1 paragraph or a few sentences to describe their personality come to life in this book. For this we must all applaud Mr. Rossiter for being able to reconstruct so well this crucial moment in our history from notes and letters taken from the great men of this era. By far the most important part of this book was the description of the event. which lasted for many months from 14 May to 17 September.