Notable for his Pulitzer Prize-winning historical book Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation and for his National Book Award-winning work American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, Ellis also wrote several works focusing on the lives of first and second United States Presidents George Washington and John Adams. After graduating from Virginia's College of William and Mary, he earned his doctorate from Yale University and subsequently taught at the U.S. Military Academy, followed by Mount Holyoke College.
