Rating: 
Summary: Well-rounded and superb
Review: I have heard it said that this book was a creampuff biography (Slate) that painted a fine portrait of an undeserving man. This political portrait could then be easily twisted and mis-quoted to serve any ends the reviewer desired. Reading the book, you will understand that it is not the biography that demagogues the man but the Slate reviewer who demagogues the biography. Aspersions aside, McCullough has created a very readable and formidable portrait of John Adams. Quoting extensively from letters, journals, and notes, he takes us on a chronological journey of Adams' life. Most interesting (and perhaps least understood) is the time Adams spent away from America as ambassador to Holland, France, and Britain. What makes this book more than a recounting is the extensive work McCullough has done by researching tangential works and letters. It is well known that Thomas Jefferson and Adams forged an enduring friendship. But the depth and scope of that complex relationship is brought to life in McCullough's scholarship of Jefferson's notes and letters. Also, Abigail Adams, an inpsiring figure in any light, is done credit in this story as a supporter, companion, and great thinker in her own right. It is clear from their near-constant correspondence that Adams relied on her in many ways on many days. McCullough draws from many and varied sources to describe events clearly, and more, to describe that part played by John Adams. Vivid descriptions are given of the officers, courtiers, politicians, and kings around which JA orbited, and it is in these relationships that the story takes on an original quality and a clarity. His demeanors and attitudes are understood in the light of world events, and a careful reader will get the sense that in many cases, it was yankee stubborness that carried the day, though it ruffled some feathers. From the beginning, JA is a clear thinker, a family man, a lawyer, a politician, and a farmer. He is never reducible to a single facet, though his motivations are crystal clear. JA was a principled man, willingly so, and he was never more abashed than when those same principles caused him grief and trouble, and that was often. When he insisted out of New England thrift that re-payment of outstanding American debt to Britain be included in the Paris treaty, it was a decision that would be a diplomatic stumbling block for years. Any man such as Adams was bound to make some enemies, and JA made more than his share. It is illuminating to read the criticisms and concerns of members of Congress and even his dear friend Jefferson when Adams is at the political fore. And it is good that McCullough includes these darker passages. His is not a portrait without flaws, nor is it an apology. It is a well-researched, well-presented work that is worth the time to read and digest. As it must be, it is also a portrait of the times. But one thing that McCullough's work is not is reducible to a single facet or a one-dimensional reading.
Rating:
Summary: By Far, The BEST Book I have Ever Read
Review: The title of my review tells you exactly how I feel about this book. No need for a long review about the writing style or content. It is just the best book I have ever read. Well, the Bible may make a close race.... Anyway, this book has the most engaging story I've encountered. At first, I wondered "what's so interesting about John Adams?" Just a few weeks short of a year on the NY Times best seller list must mean something. So I broke down and read it. Here's what I think now: 1) How can any two people sacrifice and suffer so much for their country?? 2) The way that Mr. McCullough tells me about John and Abigale, they have become my friends. I enjoyed visiting with them, sharing their adventures, trials, pain and happiness. They are so real as people, that I felt like they came to my house to visit and tell their stories, having tea, sitting by the fireplace. 3) I have never experienced a historical biography that I couldn't put down, that kept me wide awake during night time reading, and that has now made me re-evaluate all that I know about Politics and the Founding Fathers' use of it as a weapon. I am stunned by the greatness of this book!!! Read it, don't be the least bit reluctant, just read it. You'll love it. I became so attached to John and Abigale that I wept at their passsings. I have NEVER cried from reading a book. Thank you so VERY, VERY much Mr. McCullough. (What's Next???)
Rating:
Summary: Superb! Fascinating! Wonderful! Stupendous! Read it!
Review: I was curiuos about the influence of Samuel Adams on his cousin John Adams. Reading other accounts, it seems to me that Sam had a lot to do with John getting into "politics." In this book I didn't get the feeling that Sam was instrumental in getting John started in to American revolution and politics. Are there differing opinions on this? Can Mr. McCullogh or some reader expound on this? Thanks.
Rating:
Summary: A true patriot remembered
Review: David McCullough does a fine job of restoring the reputation of one of America's "Founding Fathers" in this wonderful biography. Relegated to a history trivia question, (Ex: Who was the first Vice-President of the U.S.?) John Adams is presented here as he should be, as a true patriot, an impressive intellect, and a virtuous man, without whom the chances that America would exist as it is today are nil. McCullough's Adams is far from perfect, with a vanity that blinded him, and a stubborn streak that prevented him from making the best decisions in regards to his own political future. Despite or in spite of these flaws, you can't help but admire all the things he accomplished for America.
McCullough also makes the reader aware of those who were Adams' confidantes and foes. Chief among the former was his wife Abigail, who is truly a remarkable woman whose influence on her husband cannot be discounted. Among the latter, Thomas Jefferson appears front and center, seen here, as a master manipulator, who starts and ends his life as Adams friend, but is his main foe during America's formative years. With a wonderful clarity and sense of purpose, McCullough's biography of John Adams should be required reading for anyone who wanted to gain a better understanding of America's early years as a nation and Adams importance to its development.
Rating:
Summary: Adams given his due credit
Review: Upon reading and writing a substantial critique paper (8 pages for my 490 Independent Study in History designed to close any gaps in my U.S. History knowledge before graduate school), I now can say "I know John Adams". This was a much needed boost for the historical fiqure and reputation of Adams. McCullough, who's accuracy and reputation speaks for itself, laid elequently the foundations for future historians, and others to see John Adams. McCullough writes in a more descriptive fashion, rather than analytical, and in doing so his piece is an absolute pleasure to read. Do your education, and intellect a favor and read this.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent - a thoughtful and provocative biography
Review: I'm an American who has lived in England for nearly 25 years. As a devoted and frequent reader of biography and straight history, my readings over that time have focused on British history. So, in some ways, reading this book was a bit of a homecoming for me. It was satisfying to revisit the exciting, turbulent and seminal times of the American Revolution (or Revolt of the Colonies!) after so long for, in some ways, perhaps I must admit to having lost sight of my own roots. Careful reading of this book confirmed to me that many issues in the fields of politics, economics and social devlopment have changed very little since the times of John Adams. Some particular current issues in the UK and Europe (eg the single currency, some of the increasing federalism of the EU, etc) were the very meat of the debates in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. The author brings those debates to life in such a way that you can almost see and hear the participants arguing and struggling to carry off perhaps the most important event in modern world history. John Adams himself and his astounding contribution to the birth of the United States has always been somewhat overlooked in US history with characters like Jefferson and Washington dominating our view of events. However, Adams's fundamental philosopy of "be good and do good" is wholly admirable and something more of us ought to emulate. The poignant and enduring romance between John and his loyal Abigail was also well portrayed in this book and, again, their marriage is something we would all (and most particularly politicians) do well to study. This was a wonderfully evocative book, well researched and well written. Despite its length, the pages seemed to turn themselves. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Moving and inspiring portrait
Review: David McCullough's John Adams is one of the most wonderful books I have ever read. Like Truman and others by McCullough, John Adams is amazing for its breadth, depth, and beauty. John Adams was a towering force in the creation of our nation and a good, kind, loving family man and husband. His wife Abigail was an extraordinary woman and indispensable partner in Adams's journey. The extensive collection of original letters and diaries enabled McCullough to bring this incredible period in our history alive as few writers can. I lived through all Adams's trials and triumphs, both personal and political. Not only do we get to know Adams and his family, but we learn a great deal about many of the other players in this most crucial era in the American story, especially Thomas Jefferson, Adams's one-time political foe but lifelong friend. Adams lived to be nearly 91 and on reading of his death I felt as if I had lost a cherished companion.
Rating:
Summary: A Deeply Moving Human Portrait
Review: The striking effect of this superb work is its humanizing of John Adams, long a victim of vicious stereotypes: 'obnoxious and disliked', stubborn, vain, foolish, overwrought. None of these properly describe this great patriot. Proper stereotypes should include his brilliance, sturdy dedication to independence, raw courage, common man touch, championship of the most hated (British soldiers of the Boston Massacre, e.g.), and his indispensably effective diplomacy. The oft-overlooked founding father is finally revealed in all his very human dimensions: from political street fighter to devoted lover of his 'dearest friend' Abigail. Unlike so many sunshine patriots, he was a civilian warrior -- almost dying in his foreign travels, riding horseback in dead of winter to Philadelphia, traversing treacherous Atlantic waters while happily insisting on putting the ship into ship-shape. By virtue of his letters, diaries and McCullough's fascinating rendering, the times are brought to life with a reporter's eye; the formalities of George III's court (the squat Adams uncomfortably bowing with each step toward the king); his embarrassment at French double entendres and Franklin's cavortings; Jefferson's penchant for buying precious items in Paris; European indifference to America's plight; the Continental Congress fiddling while he tapped his cane at each point supporting independence; his (and others') nightmares of an eventual slavery Armageddon. Adams' skills and innate decency are so compelling and touching that even his worst mistakes only serve to endear. Wonderful scholarship and writing by McCullough.
Rating: 
Summary: Thoroughly enjoyable
Review: John Adams seems to have slipped into a crevasse in history for most of us, remembered more for having died on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence than anything else. David McCullough has given us a very engaging portrait of a man for whom being a US president was only a brief chapter in what was a very interesting life.
McCullough clearly likes Adams as an individual, much in the same way that he liked Harry S Truman. Is it any accident that he has picked, as subjects for biographies, two of the more pugnacious individuals to occupy the White House?
Much to my satisfaction, both John and Abigail Adams are quoted frequently, through their letters. It is refreshing to read the man's disarming candor in these letters, as he moves from a young untested school teacher to a revered living monument to the Revolutionary Age. It is also touching to see how devoted the two Adams' were to each other, and how much each regarded the other as a partner on equal footing. It is hard for McCullough to do justice to Abigail without giving her a biography in her own right.
If McCullough is to be faulted on any count, it is for cutting Adams a little too much slack. The discussion of the Alien and Sedition Acts, which mark Adams' administration as distinctly as anything, is rather cursory. McCullough concedes that Adams did little to oppose the legislation, but that is about the extent of his treatment. He does a good job putting the Alien legislation in its proper context (the fear of impending war with France), but McCullough does not discuss the consequences of this legislation, and why it has come down through through history as one of the more odious assaults on civil liberties. He also tends to gloss over Adams' tendency, late in life, to be rather jealous of the recognition of others' roles in the Revolution. McCullough touches briefly on a 3-year series of diatribes Adams wrote to the one of the Boston newspapers, and then moves on. Some of these letters show Adams' vanity, pettiness, and overall prickly nature at their worst. McCullough would have done well to quote from this series.
On the other hand, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton could have been scorched much more severely than they were. After reading Joseph Ellis (who seems to be more contemptuous of Jefferson with every passing day), one comes to expect rather vicious treatment of Jefferson by any Adams partisan, but McCullough manages to keep an even keel when discussing the Sage of Monticello. Not being a big Jefferson fan, I don't mind it when someone savages his reputation, but a historian does that at the risk of losing perspective and becoming too partisan. McCullough manages the balancing act well; it is clear that he is none too fond of Jefferson, but manages to keep a relatively open mind. Hamilton, too, could have been villainized, as he helped undercut Adams' administration at every turn, but McCullough manages to avoid going overboard.
Overall, this is a well-written, entertaining book. McCullough certainly does have a good command of narrative, and his powers of description are masterful. I especially enjoyed his description of Adams' and Jefferson's vacation in the English countryside as much as anything I have read recently. Praise be to David McCullough for giving this long-neglected historical figure a well-deserved biographical treatment.
Rating:
Summary: Some things never change
Review: I was mesmorized by this account of the political situations during the formation of this country. Politicians I guess like human nature never change. It is almost like they started to clone them in 1775. It was a terrific book and one that is easy reading. I was transported back to a time of people that I was aware of only in the shadows of history. I think that John Adams was the right person at the right time. I really never thought about John Adams, it was always Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton etc. Now my perspective on our whole process of revolution has been altered. A great read and very important. For once they ought to make this manditory reading in our high schools. Don't miss it.
|
