In the famous John Trumbull painting "Declaration of Independence in Congress" one can probably pick out the visionary gaze of Benjamin Franklin, recognize the stone-faced defiance of Thomas Jefferson, or locate the impatient body language of John Adams as he watches the Declaration being presented by the copper-topped Jefferson. Also in the room are a group of representatives and assorted patriots who also signed the document, a document that could have just as easily been a death warrant list for treason as well as radical notice to secede.

What screwy person would sign on to be a Founding Father anyway? The answer to the question of who these people really were comes in true James Burke form in his new book, American Connections. What is "James Burke form"? If you missed the scores of television shows and books by the author, here is a crude impersonation of a Burkean sequitur:

The Founding Fathers helped orchestrate the American Revolution: the Commander and Chief of the revolutionary naval force was Esek Hopkins: Esek Hopkins was a member of The Society of the Cincinnati: the Society was named after Quintius Cincinnatus, a Roman commander: two locations commanded by Rome were Bononia and Urbinum Mataurense: in “Bologna” and “Urbino” are universities: the universities both employed a famous science historian named James Burke who authored a book called American Connections about the Founding Fathers.

In scenic fashion Burke guides us through the rogues gallery of chain reacted lives of the Declaration of Independence signatories. Here is a bit from the book about signer Samuel Chase:

Back in 1783 Chase had acted for Henry Hartford in the latter’s attempt to regain the lands he had lost during the Revolution. The acreage in question was no less than the whole of Maryland...The new Maryland Assembly wasn’t about to give back the entire state, so Hartford compromised and accepted the lost rental income backdated to his inheritance in 1771. He got the then-colossal sum of one hundred thousand pounds.

Talk about “manly deeds!” Burke’s style is just as revolutionary as the characters he writes about, resuscitating the all too human lives underneath the lionizing historical dust of these incidentally defined American political figures while entertaining their implications for the present.