Rating: 
Summary: Interesting tidbits, but too long
Review: This book develops the characters of the important people that founded our contry fleshing out Adams, Jefferson, Rush and others. I am not sorry I read it. I can't imagine what the book's editors were thinking. There is one point where for no obvious reason McCullough tells us that the people ice skating on the pond were doing a complex figures and then that Adams and his family climbed a bell tower and looked at the town. I had to go back an reread that part to seem if I was missing some connection to the narrative but as far as I could see there was no reason for it to be there. Throughout the book he goes into great detail about what they had for dinner and things that. That being said, I am glad that I read it. Though probably 25% of the book could have been left out with no loss, the remaining 75% is worth reading. Since reading Albion's Seed I have been comparing the people with the culture from which they came. It is ineresting to see Adams as a product of his culture and his own nature and the book enough detail to make it interesting. Be patient. The first 100 pages or so are pretty slow going with tons of irrelavant or marginally relevant characters and detail whose only purpose seems to be ambiance, but after that the revolution itself is such an exciting event that the pace picks up.
Rating: 
Summary: The best history lesson I have had
Review: As usual, David McCullough brings history alive in John Adams. There are not many history books you can call a page turner. This one was. I felt as if I was living in the period of becoming an independent nation. It also helped me understand that in politics as in life, no one is perfect. Everyone makes bad decisions but John Adams never lost his honor. His worst faults were minor compared to the contribution he made to assure a free America. Thanks Mr. McCullough.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful biography, Wonderful author
Review: David McCullough is a living refutation of the idea that scholarly history must necessarily be dull and lifeless. Whatever his subject, from Harry Truman to the Johnstown Flood, McCullough makes the story come alive. Now he has added a worthy successor to his earlier works in this new biography of our second President. When most people think of John Adams (if they think of him at all) they imagine a dry, humorless fellow who was a valley of Presidential failure between two mountain peaks of Presidential success (Washington and Jefferson). Now, thanks to McCullough, we can see Adams as he really was, intelligent and scholarly, but with wit (read his reply to the French lady who asked him about the origins of sex) and verve. Furthermore, Adams was a deeply religious man whose faith in God was fundamental to his understanding of law and government. Adams was fortunate in that he had a wife whose intelligence and spirit was a match to his own. (The chapter "Abigail in Paris" is one of the most delightful sections of the book). McCullough also reassesses the Adams Administration and reveals that it was far from a failure. Adams steered a middle course between the pro-French Republicans and the pro-British High Federalists, earning himself the enmity of both and great public unpopularity, because he realized the US was in no condition to fight a war. After his defeat in the 1800 election Adams was understandably embittered with his old friend Thomas Jefferson, but in another beautiful segment McCullough describes how the friendship was rebuilt so that it endured until the day Adams and Jefferson both died, July 4, 1826. This is McCullough's masterpiece (thus far!)
Rating: 
Summary: Something lacking
Review: I don't know exactly what it is--but this bio of Adams is missing something key to his personality. For my money, the old two volume bio of Adams by Page Smith that I read last summer after visiting Adams house is the real, solid definitive bio. This is artful and clever--the Page Smith books are the real thing.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent biography, Excellent author
Review: Its a given that whenever you see David McCullough's name on a book cover that the scholarship will be awesome and the writing will be brisk and entertaining. John Adams is exceptional in that McCullough has managed to outdo even his works on Harry Truman and Theodore Roosevelt, which takes some doing, believe me. The typical view of John Adams is that he was a dull, humorless failure of a President sandwiched between the two great success stories of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. McCullough shows us Adams the wit, Adams the innovator, and Adamsthe truly good man. Furthermore, McCullough also lets us see the entire Adams family, especially Abigail, John's soul mate in every possible way; and his son John Quincy, a worthy heir to his giant of a father. As Revolutionary leader, Adams was one of the first to be determined that the colonies should be free from Britain and one of the strongest representatives the country had in France, Holland, and England. As President, Adams had the thankless job of balancing between the pro-British High Federalists and the pro-French Republicans so as to keep the USout of a war which he knew we could not afford. Neither vain nor charismatic, Adams met the all too common fate of those who merely do a good job without hogging the limelight: he was jeered, ignored, and pushed to one side while he still had many more years he could have served. Another fascinating aspect of Adams' life which McCullough covers brilliantly is his long friendship with Thomas Jefferson. The two men were quite different in style and manner, but were close friends for many years until political differences divided them. I was very happy to read McCullough's account of how the friendship was restored after both men were in retirement, and to know that they kept in contact with each other almost up to the day they both died, July 4, 1826.
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Summary: LOVE LETTERS STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART!
Review: There's a song about love letters straight from the heart keeping us so near when apart. This book is an enthralling mesmerizing collection of the exchange of letters between Abigail and John Adams, the second President of USA. He wasn't tall or handsome; he was talkative, argumentative, and powerful. She was a shy spirited avid poetry reader, and an excellent writer, who admonished him via the letters, as he wrote the nation's new laws, to - "remember the ladies and be more favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands.... and... we have too many high-sounding words and not enough actions to correspond with them; I would not have you an idle spectator.... and.... "I wish most sincerely there was not a slave in the province."While John Adams served the nation, his wife, Abigail endured the loneliness and hardships of farm life, and raised their five children. The letters offer a profound look at life in that era, and are sensitive and eloquent. He was her "dearest friend"; she was his "dear soul". It is a poignant glimpse at what marriage and partnership in life can be.After reading this book, you may find Nancy Reagan's book, "I love Ronnie" enjoyable fluff.
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Summary: The Delight is in the Details...
Review: John Adams is so much fun to read, I'm already worrying about finishing it! I'll reread it, I always do reread David McCullough's books because the writing is so superb. John Adams was such a key player in the founding of our nation and yet I knew very little about the role he played. In Mr. McCullough's John Adams, the reader is steeped in the period and experiences his world so vividly. I seem to feel Adam's joys and frustrations each day as I gobble up page after page. McCullough's fans have been waiting for a long time for a new book and this one certainly satisfies. Thanks for another terrific reading experience.
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Summary: Adams Gets His Due
Review: With his biography of John Adams, David McCullough once again proves that he is THE preminent American historian of his generation. His Adams book is meticuously reasearched and yet very readible. This is historical writing at its very best in that it makes its subject come alive for the reader. And his subject is a man who, while certainly not forgotten, has not received his just due as a leader of the American Revolution. While Washington was a unifying symbol and Jefferson and Hamilton were great (if flawed) visionaries, Adams was a practical man of great devotion whose contributions to this nation were every bit as important. While Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, it was Adams whose forceful personality pushed it through the Continental Congress. Later on, as a Diplomat during the Revolution, Adams helped secure France's assistance, helped secure much needed financing from the Dutch and helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris that ended the war on terms much more favorable to America than the military situation warranted. Adams went on to define the role of the Vice President as the first holder of that office. Then, facing the unenviable task of succeeding the mythical Washington as President, his biggest contribution was to steadfastly maintain peace with France. Thereby he not only avoided a potentially destructive war, he checked the rampant militarism of Hamilton and established the diplomatic climate that made possible the Louisiana Purchase three years later. His narrow defeat for reelection three years later represents the first peacible transfer of power in modern democratic times. McCullough tells of this with a master storyteller's eye. He uses Adams's own correspondence ands that of his extraordinary wife Abigal to good effect. He also portrays Adams's long and peculiar friendship with Jefferson, show how their lives were uniquely intertwined. This is a monumental book which in absence of real monument to Adams will have serve as a literary substitute.
Rating:
Summary: Neither historian nor scholar
Review: I'm simply a reader who wanted to know more about John and Abigail Adams and this book was full of the details that can round out a person's understanding of the people and circumstances which made the era. The writing was lush and compelling without being either flippant or dense. I enjoyed reading about the way in which John Adams chose to serve his country at the cost of the family life he so intensely desired. The portrait of a marriage is surprisingly "modern," with both sexual and intellectual components that might shock the reader but are welcome to a complete portrait of a great man. Will Jeffersonophiles be angry? I don't think so as long as they are able to see their hero as a man who wanted to contribute to the shape of this nation at the cost of personal purity.
Rating:
Summary: Just great
Review: A wonderful, engrossing book. If you have never read a biography of Adams, this is the one you should read. I find myself constantly thinking about Adams and his family and can't wait to pick it up again and rejoin them.
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