Book description
America's bestselling biographer reveals the origins of the most revolutionary sentence in the Declaration of Independence, the one that defines who we are as Americans-and explains how it should shape our politics today.
To celebrate America's 250th anniversary, Walter Isaacson takes readers on a fascinating deep dive into the creation…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Greatest Sentence Ever Written as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book.
Author Walter Isaacson, known for his biographies of famous people including Benjamin Franklin and Leonardo da Vinci, devotes the entire work to analyzing the second sentence in the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
Isaacson notes how small changes to the document—written by Thomas Jefferson and edited by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams—impacted the overall work: Jefferson originally…
From Natalie's list on sounding like an insider as the U.S. marks its 250th birthday.
If you love The Greatest Sentence Ever Written...
The Day Rachel Carson Invented Environmentalism
Rachel Carson was an eminent scientist and the foremost nature writer in the United States when she stumbled - or rather crashed - into the realization of what the indiscriminate use of insecticides and pesticides was doing to water systems, plants, and animals, and ultimately the health of the American…
Want books like The Greatest Sentence Ever Written?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Greatest Sentence Ever Written.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,366
readers submitted
so far, will you?
