The Founders

 

I write occasional reviews of books by Peace Corps authors for PeaceCorpsWorldwide.org. Following is a review of The Founders by Bryan Tenney, Dorrance Publishing, 2025

The premise of the novel, which appears in the first chapter, is that Thomas Jefferon and George Washington are reincarnated from their times to ours.  Their mission as devised by the scientific cabal that brought them back to life is to cleanse modern America from an evil tyrant, aka Trump.

But first the founders must realize when and where they are. They have to come to terms with the times and with the changes that the centuries have wrought.  A sub-plot is that Jefferson remembers a treasure, which he recovers. This provides the where-with-all for the two to pay their way but also alerts law enforcement to mystery bandits.  Much of the novel revolves around their moving around the country to avoid capture.

Value in the story comes from the mirror in which we see ourselves through the founders’ eyes. They marvel at dress, transportation, communications, and race relations in the current era and bewail the loss of simplicity and courtesy in everyday life, and in politics especially, comity.

Corrupt, venial, misogynist President Bribe is a thinly veiled portrait of Trump.  Despite the author’s effort to depict him, the reality of Trump’s egregious behavior is greater than the fiction.  Some things you just cannot make up.  Nonetheless, Bribe provides comic relief as the founders finally engage in their mission.

In the end it all works out although the fate of the protagonists remains unresolved.

This novel is a mirror, a satire and an inditement.  The author’s desire for a cure to current ills comes through strongly.  That is the strength of the tale. Let’s look at ourselves, make honest judgements and corrections.

Robert Gribbin built rural water systems as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya (68-70).  He later served forty years in the U.S. Foreign Service as a diplomat and ambassador. He is the author of two memoirs; In the Aftermath of Genocide – The U.S. Role in Rwanda and My African Anthology. His latest novel is Freida’s Secret, a story starting with Stanley’s rescue of Emin Pasha in 1888 and culminating in a treasure hunt in Idi Amin’s Uganda.