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Summary: Sally-Jo of Annapolis says: The best biography ever!
Review: We learn very little of John Adams in school. This work corrects this deficiency. It is easy to read and difficult to put down. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in American history.
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Summary: An Unlikeable Man...A Great American
Review: McCullough who has authored so many wonderful books reached his apex on this one. The depth of research and the attention to detail are remarkable. He has tried very hard to show all the many faceted aspects of John Adams and his family and has also tried to portray them in a positive light. But John and family are flesh and blood human beings and despite the author's effort to rehabilitate Adams, many flaws shine through.That's o.k. He succeeded in giving us a real portrait of the family. Others do not do well either. Jefferson comes off as an elitist (which he probably was) and Franklin comes off even worse. In order to build up Adams, I fear the author felt it was necessary to demean others in order to exalt Adams. But perhaps that is too pointed...I will leave that up to other readers of the book. It was a fabulous book and I would commend it to anyone, not just academics or people who are focused on national history. The one impression which really sticks with me is that John and Abigail both functioned in terms of self determined persecution. Both always believed that others were out to diminish them. And so in turn they turned the tables on others. Witness the Alien and Sedition Acts. John went from being a revolutionary to being on the margin of being a petty tyrant. Maybe not all of the time in action, but perhaps in thought. But in closing I will give him credit for something that McCullough did...how difficult could it have been to have succeeeded a national icon like George Washington. He did remake the modern presidency and should get proper credit for it.
His vision and influence on this still abides. And in conclusion it is unfair to judge the past by current standards. And maybe, just maybe, he knew more about his times than this writer does.
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Summary: The New England Crab-Apple of Wisdom: McCullough on John Ada
Review: A Sunday or so ago, my father brought up this very subject. 'See McCullough's got a hefty volume on John Adams.'
'I have it. Not bad.'
'Hmph,' the Old Man said roguishly, with a nod towards Mumsie. 'Can't imagine there's much to say about Adams. All he did was go into the office and do whatever Abigail told him to.' There's some truth to that. David McCullough - specialist in the early XXth Century, psalmist of the Brooklyn Bridge, TR, the Panama Canal, and Harry S Truman* - has never, thank Heaven, been bound by academic fences and considerations of turf. Trespassing on Gordon Wood's period he may be, but what of it? McCullough on the tart, stout little lawyer-farmer from Braintree is tonic. Partly, I think, this stems from the fact that McCullough is as new to the XVIIIth Century (for a professional, bien sur) as most readers are: he brings a freshness to it and a determination to explain what he himself finds strange and new. Not that, say, a Gordon Wood or a Fred Anderson doesn't, but sometimes familiarity breeds a non-recognition of the chasm that separates the Founders from the Age of MTV. But largely, the success of this truly splendid work stems, I conclude, from two sources: its subject, and its author. David McCullough is, after all, one of the best of our best: a felicitous stylist, a thorough researcher, a born explainer. And he manages to combine cool, professional detachment - such as is required to weigh sources and make judgments - with an inflammatory and - I trust - catching love and enthusiasm for his subject. I can't think of anything or anyone David McCullough might write about and I not read the work with glee. But admittedly, the work is the richer for its subject: a life of Roger Sherman or John Jay would pale by comparison. For Adams was, justly considered, a Titan, the Atlas who bore American independence aloft on unwearied shoulders for so long. And to write of John Adams and his times, too, is necessarily to write of other Titans, giants in those days, whose like we shall hardly see again: Washington, Jefferson, John Marshall, Benjamin Franklin, and that Pilgrim Portia, the always fascinating and endearing Abigail Adams. The cast as well as the plot is irresistible. A very human - and very unde , to whom redress is due - John Adams emerges from these pages, in great vitality and impelling our affection. As mover in the great cause of American independence, as diplomat, Vice President, and President; and most of all as husband and father, John Adams at last gets his due. This work, with Paul Nagel's work on the Adamses from John to Brooks (Descent From Glory, which I highly recommend), goes far towards righting the balance. John Adams has been unjustly disvalued for too long - in part because his Yankee quirks, lovable enough in themselves, are sometimes galling to the rest of the country as reminiscent of New England's historic smugness, and in part because the Protean Jefferson could always be claimed for and by every party in American history, whereas the Adams philosophy had the disadvantage of consistency. This is a fascinating portrayal of a great man, mostly as half of a great team: a biography, almost, of Mr and Mrs John Adams. And that is as it should be. It is also a series of perfectly executed portraits of Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Washington, John Quincy Adams, and Ben Franklin (who comes off rather poorly, but merits that judgment honestly). And it is a vibrant and vivifying look at the times that saw the birth of this nation and the beginning of a new chapter in the liberty of man. What more can one want?
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Summary: wow
Review: wow. this was a great book. read it. cherrish it. I think that says it all.
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Summary: The Grumpy Patriot
Review: This was a superb book. McCullough has a history of writing wonderful books, but this one was definitely his masterpiece. I hope all of you will tune into C-Span because he used that as a format for talking about this book. John Adams and family are a hard sell to be perfectly honest. John and Abigail, at least from their writings may be the greatest whiners in American history. Nothing seemed to suit either one of them. Abigail seems to have never had a pleasant moment in her life. But McCullough also brings out the sunny side of their lives. How much the marriage meant to both of them...how much both contributed to the world in which they lived. And also how much they prepared John Quincy Adams to be the pivotal point of his generation. They had the right to complain because their lives had so many down moments. They gave everything they could to the founding of the new republic and to be honest it must have been so difficult following George Washington to the Presidency. And even Adam's old friend Thomas Jefferson had abandoned him. They made amends in the end, but it was a very dificult time in American history and Adams did well except for the Alien and Sedition Acts. In the end he unfortuantely became what he hated. An authoritarian personality. But after leaving office he found the truth. He is an American hero. He shaped the office of President much more than Washington. He understood how things in government should be. Modern America did not begin with Washington, it began with Adams. It was his vision which established the modern presidency. It was he who did that.
We owe Mr. Adams a big debt of gratitude.
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Summary: LJU
Review: It's not often I find a history book that's "a page-turner", this is definitely one of those. In my opinion the most well written biography I've ever read and I do enjoy a lot of them. It's too bad our children's history books aren't written like this. I fell in love with the man (John Adams), what he stood for and his drive, I admired his ability to maintain diplomacy in the face of crooks and bad politics (an ancient Alan Greenspan), and I appreciate that I got a larger picture of the man by understanding the value he placed on his relationship with his wife and children. I feel that if I ran in to this John Adams on the street I would know him by having read his biography. Definitely a must-have.
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Summary: Really, Really interesting!
Review: I couldn't believe everyone was reading this book until I picked it up and started reading it too! I thought it would be boring and stuffy like my old history classes in college and high school but it's not, it's really interesting and easy to read. Now I see why everyone's reading it! And just wait, you'll never believe some of the things our second President said and did! Absolutely shocking! Now I'm going to read more history books -- they're more interesting than I thought! And everyone should read this book -- John Adams was a really interesting guy!
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Summary: The Definitive Biography Of John Adams
Review: David McCullough has once more done a superlative job restoring the tarnished reputation of a splendid politician who should be regarded as one of our country's finest Presidents. While many will still contend that John Adams' presidency was a failure domestically, McCullough has made an excellent case showing why John Adams' single term was at least a qualified success. Surely Adams' crowning achievement was averting all out war with Revolutionary France, when such a conflict would have been politically and economically disastrous to the United States. Yet I had also forgotten how important a role Adams played in creating the United States Navy; an achievement as notable as averting war with France. McCullough paints a vivid, mesmerizing portrait of Adams whose personal intergrity was second to none. Indeed, I hadn't realized how much a Renaissance man John Adams was, someone whose wide ranging interests included natural history, mathematics, classical Greek and Roman literature, English literature, as well as law. Adams comes across as a person blessed not only with high moral principles, but also an insatiable thirst for knowledge; traits which he successfully passed to his son John Quincy Adams. David McCullough does have an agenda here in elevating Adams' stature, yet he brilliantly pulls it off without diminishing the character and achievements of George Washington or Thomas Jefferson (The only major "Founding Father" who is depicted in a negative light is Alexander Hamilton.). While McCullough stresses Adams' virtues, he is not afraid to note Adams' flaws. Indeed, he correctly observes that Adam's signing of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 was by far Adams' worst error of judgement during his presidency, even as McCullough goes to great lengths to explain Adams' support. This is yet another splendid biography which ranks along McCullough's earlier tomes on the Roeblings - the engineers who designed and oversaw the Brooklyn Bridge's construction - ("The Great Bridge") and Major General George Goethals - the engineer who completed the Panama Canal - ("The Path Between The Seas") and President Truman ("Truman") as splendid examples of scholarship and excellent prose. Those in search of a definitive biography of John Adams need look no further.
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Summary: Great story of a great American life.
Review: David McCullough has outdone himself with this book. It definatley lives up to the standard set by Truman, and perhaps surpasses it. McCullough paints a vivid picture of life in the late 18th century and brings Adams to life. I think a nice balance was struck between glorifying Adams as an American hero and presenting him as a real flesh and blood human being with faults and shortcomings. Adams's own personal letters were a major source in this book. As a reult, much insight is given to Adams's relationships with those he wrote most often, his wife Abigail and Thomas Jefferson. It is great history, but more than that, it is a great story. I had a hard time putting it down.
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Summary: What if?
Review: Absolutely enlightening and intriquing. This piece of literary greatness is a must read for any affectionado of American History. One can only wonder how this country might have been different if it were not for the insightfulness, determination and statesmenship of John Adams. The author David McCullough captures a period of time in history that dictates the way we live today. A truly remarkable literary work.
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