Rating: 
Summary: Required Reading for all Americans
Review: Even though the author is overwhelmingly positive in his attitude towards his subject, this biography is essential reading for people (like myself) who think they know all they need to know about the infancy of our country. It was surprising to me that our country was not founded by a group of individuals with an "all for one and one for all" attitude, but came into being in the midst of much turmoil and diverse forces struggling for dominance. Especially enlightening was the depiction of America's relationship to France as well as England, and the relationship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson is fascinatingly described. Abagail Adams emerges as a woman who was equal, if not superior to, her husband is so many ways. An incredibly rewarding biography, and worth putting at the top of your reading list. Believe the hype-"John Adams" is a sublime read.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed man, flawless book
Review: It took me a couple of weeks to get through 650 pages of "John Adams", and that's not counting the extensive footnotes and documentation. I was riveted for every one of those pages, transported effortlessly back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, walking in John Adams's footsteps. What David McCullough has done (and my brain hurts to think about the years of research that must have gone into this book, even before the writing) is create a walking, talking Adams for all seasons, spanning 80 years of his life, paying as much attention to Year 9 as to year 59.It helps that there hasn't been as much popular print on Adams as there has been on the other Founding Fathers (leaving aside the scholarly works). I've read a number of popular Revolutionary War-era books (e.g. "Duel") that never managed to convince me that history happened quite that way. McCullough recreates a nation's capital (three of them, in fact) that's eerily reminiscent of today's. Everything new is old again. The scheming and double-dealing in Europe is just as odious. By the end of his lone-term Presidency, Adams was about as reviled as Jimmy Carter must have been in 1980. The unbilled co-star of this book is Abigail, whose life is described in as much detail as John's. There's also a fairly strong portrait of John Quincy Adams, who I must reluctantly admit I knew only through Anthony Hopkins's portrayal in "Amistad". Thomas Jefferson is portrayed in a more ambivalent manner, but McCullough never seems to be choosing sides and stresses that, up or down, his friendship with Adams is still one of the underpinnings of modern American government. The side steps are equally good, whereas in other history books I might find myself skipping back to the main plot. Discourses on the geography of 1770s Philadelphia, the history of the influenza epidemic, the brief glimpses at the French Revolution, are all informative without screaming "I'm showing off!". It all comes back to John Adams, in the end. McCullough doesn't judge him, I feel, although the book is more sympathetic than not. I opened to page 1 knowing very little about John Adams, and made it to page 649 with increased admiration for his role in history. Along the way I read lots of great historical quotes, from Adams or otherwise, and obtained much stronger insights into the Constitution than I'd had before. Today's political arena may be ugly, but Adams walked through it gracefully 200 years ago and maybe after reading about his life, we can hope that today's leaders will ultimately do the same.
Rating:
Summary: Not just for history buffs but for all Americans
Review: This book brings to life some of the major historical moments of America's Revolution as few have done before. This insider's view of the Revolution shows the good and the bad, the strengths and weaknesses, of the personalities that shaped the start of the American Experiment. Only David McCullough, in his "John Adams", has done as good a job at taking these icons of American history off of their pedestals and showing them for who they were. This book does it better, if only because it is shorter and more to the point than "John Adams" in many ways. A good read and an easy way to get great insight into how this country was formed. It is especially poignant in the way it shows the problems that were solved, those averted, and those put off until another day - most notably, slavery.
Rating: 
Summary: McMullough makes Magic
Review: David McCullough not only allows you to get to know John Adams, but in addition gives the reader a very good sense of the primitive but proud world that was America in the 18th Century. More than just a biography of Adams you get a very honest portrait of the founding fathers - Washington and Jefferson go from being statues to being real people with flaws - but not in a negitive way, but in a personable way. In fact you almost feel that you are hanging out with John Adams as he lives through the birth of the United States. While this biography didn't go into the same level of detail that his Truman epic did, you still get a very personal portrait of man from 200 years away. As with Truman the author seems to gravitate to interesting people who get overlooked by history - and in this case he shines a wonderful light. What's also wonderful is that it's as much a biography of Abigail Adams as it is of John Adams. McCullough is also honest in looking at the flaws in his subject, for example showing the mistakes of the Alien and Sedition Acts. But in the process by making Adams more human you feel more sympathy for him. This is a book that should be read by anyone wanting to get a better idea of what went into the creation of the United States - and what set it apart from other events of the day like the French Revolution. In fact the book shows a wonderful contrast of America and Europe in the 18th Century.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, but favors the subject too much
Review: As with his biography of Harry Truman, I found McCullough's work on John Adams to be enjoyable, putting Adams into more accurate context with his better-known contemporaries -- Jefferson, Franklin and Washington. Through his judicious use of Adams' many surviving letters and journals, the author does an excellent job of allowing the reader to get a good feel for Adam's point of view during a very tumultuous time in our nation's history. My sole concern about the book was that I felt McCullough tended to take Adams' side on most every issue. The spin on Adams in the book is almost always positive; on Franklin, Jefferson and those who may oppose him, the spin is generally negative. In my judgment, McCullough should have questioned Adams and his motives a little more rather than take his arguments at face value. The author's natural style sacrifices some objectivity for personability. That being said, I would still recommend the book to anyone that wants to learn more about our founding fathers and the cauldron from which our nation was made.
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening and educational
Review: Kudos to David McCullough for putting history into a very engaging format. Even though he respected and praised John Adams, he was also sure to point out the comments that other politicians of the time said about Adams. Granted, the comments were mostly explained away as being political in nature. The annals of American history have largely passed Adams by, but after reading this book, perhaps historians may want to revisit this patriot. As mentioned in the book, it is easy to remember Thomas Jefferson since he was the better writer. Adams' forte was in oratory, and there are no recordings to show us how good he was. We only have mentions of it in others' letters and journals. All the stages of his life receive equal mention, but his time in Europe stands out to me more. His work behind the scenes there helped the nation become recognized. I not only learned about Adams, but I learned a bit about Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. It is hard to imagine our forefathers participating in political scandal and savagery. Perhaps we have not changed much from those times. I would highly recommend reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Fine Biography of a Great American Patriot
Review: David McCullough has written the Adams biography that finally does our second president justice. Adams' reputation as obnoxious, vain, and disliked by his peers has for many years overshadowed the accomplishments of the man. The truth is, the United States owes a greater debt of gratitude to Adams than most people realize. McCullough chronicles Adams' tireless service to the cause of liberty and his considerable role in structuring a representative republic. Without Adams' hand, the United States as we know it today may be a quite different nation than it is. Such was the influence of Adams, and we can thank McCullough for revealing to us the actual greatness of the man. The John and Abigail Adams union is perhaps the greatest political love story in US history. McCullough understands and appreciates the role that Abigail played in John Adams' life and career, and he devotes a good portion of the book to Abigail's influence on her husband. Abigail was not a highly educated woman, but her common sense and intelligence, as well as her devotion to her "dearest friend", reveal her to be woman ahead of her time. It is difficult to imagine John Adams without Abigail, especially after reading this book. McCullough is a responsible historian, and in being so he refuses to whitewash his subjects. He does not deify Adams; he shows us his flaws as well as his attributes. Adams was human, subject to the same imperfections as anyone. This truth, however, allows readers to marvel at Adams' accomplishments even more. After all, that which may be simple for a god to accomplish can require a superhuman effort for a mortal to achieve, and Adams' list of achievements is long and impressive.
McCullough's "John Adams" is a well-researched and thorough biography, yet it is anything but dry. The author has the rare gift of capturing on paper all that is exciting about history, something to which readers of his previous books about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Panama Canal can attest. McCullough reinforces the notion that the world's greatest stories are the true stories, and that our great historians can be our best storytellers.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Bio
Review: McCullough is a master of getting into the character of historcal personages and then making them come alive on paper. Exhaustively researched, this book gets into the very heart and soul of one of the most pivotal characters of American Independence.
Rating:
Summary: Overly detailed in parts, but brilliant
Review: A bit slow in parts, but from a compelling opening to the end, this is a brilliant portrait of an often-overlooked intellectual and political hero of America's formative years. By the time it's over, it's as though you've come to know a personal friend, from across the generations -- first rate historical writing.
Rating:
Summary: Never More Timely.
Review: If I were a high school or college teacher of history or social studies, I'd adopt David McCullough's "John Adams" as my classroom textbook. Part biography, part historical treatise, part memoir, the book is wholly wonderful. As a reasonably well-read forty-something product of the public school system, I was surprised to learn from reading this book more about Adams, the American Revolution, and the American ideal than from all my previous experiences combined. It's that good. McCullough relies heavily on the vast reserve of Adams' own writings to so thoroughly characterize a man who's been dead for nearly two hundred years, that you feel you know him as a best friend by book's end. And what a man he was. Absolutely devoted to reading and education, and dedicated to the pursuit of freedom and liberty, Adams may be more responsible for the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the U.S. Navy, our "separation of powers" system of government, and the very set of American values that has sustained us for two centuries, than any other man who ever lived. His wisdom, foresight, and study of world history led him to predict in his early twenties that world domination by France and England could soon end, and that America's thirteen disparate colonies could unite and rise to a greatness rivaling that of ancient Greece or Rome. As an old man, more than forty years before the Civil War, he hypothesized that the issue of slavery could one day rend the nation apart. This was a man of vision. It is hard to read McCullough's laudable prose and Adams' letters concerning the development of America without rethinking the whole question of America's worth--and patriotism in general. Virtually every country in the world observes some "independence day" or other celebration of nationalism. But so many of them are based on not-so-worthy events: coups, political intrigue, despotism, genocide, etc. McCullough's Adams helps us to see the American Revolution as a watershed event in human civilization, where a relatively small group of incredibly intelligent statesmen came together to pursue an ideal. They were--for the most part--motivated not by partisanship or personal gain, but by the simple desire to do good. John Adams epitomizes the stereotypical white-wigged Founding Father who dared to believe that the granting of rights flowed from people to government, not the reverse. I was equally satisfied to learn Adams' position on slavery. He was against it, and never owned a slave, unlike his on-again-off-again political friend/foe, Thomas Jefferson. Although he lost this argument, he felt that all men were obviously NOT created equal. They come in different colors, sizes, abilities, and temperaments. But they all deserve EQUAL RIGHTS. This is a man all Americans can revere. Thank you, David McCullough, for bringing him alive once again. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.
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