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Summary: McCullough does it again
Review: David McCullough's John Adams is even better than his book Truman. It is an easy read and a fun read. I found it difficult to put down. mcCullough teaches you about the people who helped the 13 colonies become one country; how political parties were formed and how politicing then is not much differnt than it is today. He also provides insight on the various people who governed the US or wanted to. More than you ever learned in school. What really amazed me was the fact that the letters John and Abagail Adams wrote to each other or to others survived. The fact that their family and other people's families saved their correspondence is remarkable.
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Summary: A first rate biography !
Review: According to the history that most of us remember from our grade school days, John Adams was always one of the more boring founding fathers. Less flashy than Jefferson, not as amiable as Franklin, and not as glamorous as our first President, Adams is usually dimly remembered for being cranky with our French allies and, oh yes, the second President of the United States. But this excellent biography reminds us that he was a fierce Patriot-- an early force in the urging of the Declaration of Independence, a critical diplomat in ensuring the funds for our young republic, a decisive envoy for the peace negotiations with the British, and our first ambassador to the former mother country. He was the first Vice President and served our country with unceasing zeal and integrity.Furthermore, Adams was as complex and interesting as the rest of those titans of history whom we refer to as the Founding Fathers. His lifelong love affair and partnership with his wife Abigail is well documented through their countless letters to one another. McCullough does an excellent job of portraying their touching need for the other and this, more than anything else, turns Adams from a dour historical figure into a breathing, passionate man that gave his all for his beliefs. The quibbles of some other reviewers aside, the basic history is solid and well presented. More to the point, this is a biography aimed at the general reader and it does an excellent job of making the life and times of the revolutionary period accessible and interesting to that audience. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the American Revolution, enjoys biographies of historical figures, or would just like to reacquaint themselves with one of the giants of history.
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Summary: The True Father of Our Country
Review: John Adams is the man that history forgot. And he knew it was going to happen. But that didn't stop him from making many personal and professional sacrifices to help form this country. David McCullough portrays a true John Adams. He doesn't let us think that Adams was obnoxious and disliked as John Adams himself remembered. I have been a fan of John Adams since I first watched the film 1776. The few books I could find on Adams did not dig deep enough for the true John Adams. It is clear that McCullough did a lot of research. In reading this book, you really wonder how they did it. How did a group of men from different backgrounds come together and form this new country?
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Summary: Epic account with a personal touch...
Review: David McCullough continues to excel at writing monumental biographies but still making it readable and personal. McCullough manages to cover a major portion of our history and still give the reader the feeling of being at Adam's side throughout. All the major events are recounted (the true story of the writing of the Declaration of Independance, the Paris peace treaty, Adams as vice president as well as president...) as well as little known events largely surrounding his time spent as an ambassador to France and Great Britan. Adams famed personal independance is felt throughout the book, but, more surprising, so are his intimate emotions concerning life and family. Finally, McCullough also excels at vivid descriptions of what life was truly like at the end of the 18th century and into the 19th that gives this book the richness that makes it stand out. History writing on this scale is rare indeed and should be the springboard to other large scale biographies. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Superb Biography
Review: This biography is accesible to the general reader. It does not bore with scholarly details. It covers Adams entire life. It brings out one of our Founders from relative obscurity. One can feel both the pain of loss and the triumphs of victory that marked much of his life. Somewhat boastful, very assertive, sometimes wrong-headed, but always with the best of intentions and with impeccable character, McCullough adds to the required cannon for those interested in the American founding and one of its more colorful characters.
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Summary: Doesn't Compare to "Truman"
Review: I did enjoy this book, however, it does not compare to McCullough's "Truman". When I finished "Truman" I felt like I had lost a friend. McCullough was not able to do the same with this book. I felt that too much time was devoted to Abigail. While she is key to the life of John Adams, I would rather have had more details of the political decisions John Adams made and why. This book is definitely worth the time spent reading it, and I learned much about the man and his times. If you are expecting another "Truman" you may be dissappointed. If you are expecting an every day biography - you will be pleased.
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Summary: A+ for Prose; C- for Scholarship and McCullough Understands
Review: First, this is a well written enjoyable read on one of our "forgotten" founding fathers ...but the scholarship, and in many respects, the cornerstone premise of the book is the Jefferson quote that McCullough uses to describe Adams "as the colossus of independence" ...problem is it appears Jefferson never said it and the flawed scholarship takes an important period of American history and proceeds to muddle it. Commercially, scholarship be damned, the books are selling and yet, a reader should expect more ...unfortunate.
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Summary: The Real John Adams
Review: This is a great book. Now I understand what type of person John Adams was: intuitive, visionary, stubborn, determined, loyal, brave, argumentative, but mostly a man who believed he could make a difference and did. If you want to really understand our founding fathers, who they were, what they did, and why, get this book today. It must be made into a movie.
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Summary: Changes this reader's mind! ...
Review: After public school, college, graduate school and professional degree educations, I knew little about John Adams except that he was smart enough to have picked a "feminist" and wonderfully intelligent wife who wrote beautifully and displayed an incredible female-political consciousness way back then. I knew nothing about his contribution to the intellectual heritage of our country and I certainly did not think of him as an anti-slavery champion of equality for the common "man." But after this wonderfully engrossing read, I came to understand the author's amazingly revealed paradox that this man who stood so steadfastly against slavery in his personal life as well as theoretically and who championed the "common man's" need of a salary for public office since without it only a rich man would be able to afford such service, this man who was NOT born an aristocrat and who worked as a farmer as did his family before him, is widely regarded as being a "conservative" sympathizer with aristocracy/elitism in contrast to Jefferson who, though an owner of slaves even unto his death and an opponent of the Toussaint slave uprising, who lived an aristocrat's life, is regarded as the champion of equality for the "common man" and the opponent of slavery. I ended the book with a powerful sense of John Adam's life, deeply grateful for all his letters and writings, for his family's writings, especially Abigail's. I loved how the author wove into the story the powerful partnership Adams had with Abigail and how this so intimately helped to shape his mental life and the trajectory of his accomplishments. In the end, I put the book down with an incredible awareness of whole lives being lived, the awesomeness of death removing such whole lives from the stage of life, the powerful comparison of then with now. Well done!
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Summary: A Must Read
Review: There is a reason this book is #1--people are in need of intregrity and ideals--which they can no longer get from their immediate political surroundings--this book with its fantastic author who is writing with an unimaginable passion and flair gives us a taste for real people trying to carve a system away from tyranny and inequity. I cannot rate it high enough-- it is an important book by an important writer and deserves all the accolades that will come its way.
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