Rating: 
Summary: I'm not a history buff, but loved this book!
Review: Please pick up this book. Yes, it's over 700 pages. Yes, it may take you a few weeks to read it. But it's worth it. David McCullough really brought out the wonderful and contagious personalities of John Adams and his wife Abigail. You feel like you they were your relatives. (The relatives you like.) It was hard for me to realize that the book was over. It definitely wasn't the history that intrigued me. It was the characters and how you could get to know them a few hundred years later. I rarely write reviews on here, but thought that those in doubt should read this.
Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: About the best biography of any American. The author does such
a wonderful job of bringing John Adams to life, and exploring
all aspects of a long, eventful life, that most readers will
find themselves wishing they could have been "along for the
ride." Adams is shown in such detail, and he is such a fascinating character when developed by McCullough, it is difficult to put the book down; that concept is a common one,
but it certainly applies to this book.
And the author knows so much detail because of the very large
number of letters written by Adams, his capable wife-partner,
Abigail, and other figures of that era who worked with Adams,
as well as Adams' diary and journal entries. So we know all
those interesting stories and fascinating details are all
true!
Until one reads this fabulous book, it is impossible to believe
John Adams was such an important and interesting historically-
significant person, and that he was involved in so many worthwhile enterprises.
An absolute "must read" for anyone who has an interest in American history or a curiousity about the founding of our
Republic. Adams was a man of vision, and much of that vision
is still relevant and interesting.
If one has any interest in American history whatsover, the
greatest favor you can do yourself is to read this book.
Rating:
Summary: "The colossus of American independence"
Review: David McCullough has done it again! McCullough, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of several previous superb works of history and biography (most notably, "Mornings on Horseback," "The Path Between the Seas," and "Truman"), has written a wonderfully well rounded picture of a man to whom every American owes a tremendous debt of gratitude. John Adams' many contributions to establishing this great Nation of ours, and the freedoms we cherish, are incalculable. He was indeed, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, the "colossus of American independence." "John Adams" is literate, elegant in tone, entertaining, and, above all, highly informative. It's not, however, your typical Presidential biography. In this masterful book, there's much less emphasis on the political career of its subject, and more weight given to Adams' personal life. And it was indeed an extraordinary life! In 1735 John Adams is born into a middle class family in Quincy, Massachusetts. During his childhood and youth, his father decides upon a career in the ministry for his son; but John has other plans. He wants to become a lawyer. After attending Harvard, he practices law intermittently until the outbreak of the American Revolution. During the years before the war, he meets and marries the great love of his life, Abigail Smith Adams. Throughout their long lives together, this extraordinary woman remains a tremendously positive influence on him. Adams is one of the earliest to realize the inevitability of American independence from Britain. His arguments in favor of independence are always lucid, logical, easy to understand, and have broad popular appeal. Adams' service to America continues throughout the Revolutionary War years and beyond. He serves as an American delegate to the Paris Peace conference, and, after the war, as an American minister in Europe. In 1788, Adams is recalled to the United States, after faithfully serving his country in the courts of Europe for nearly eight years, three of them separated from his beloved Abigail and their children. Later in 1788, he is elected Vice President of the United States, an office he holds for the next eight years. Finally, in 1796, he is elected President of the United States. It is the first contested election in American history. Adams' Presidency is marked by two notable achievements, one of them positive and the other negative. In what Adams considered his greatest accomplishment, he prevents a war with France over the issue of French privateers attacking American ships. His most negative achievement is the signing of the Alien and Sedition Acts, a set of laws that gave the President the legal right to expel any foreigner he considered dangerous, and made "writing against the government, Congress, or President... crimes punishable by fines and imprisonment." Adams' four years as Chief Executive are also marked by political wrangling unknown in America up to that time. Throughout his term, he is hounded by his political enemies. Foremost among them is Thomas Jefferson, a former friend and the leader of the newly created "Republican" party. Jefferson accuses the Federalist Adams of having "monarchical" tendencies; of advocating a pro-British foreign policy; and of attempting to destroy the republic by concentrating power in a strong central government. Adams is unable to fight back effectively against these charges. In 1800, he loses his bid for re-election to Jefferson. The last quarter-century of Adams' life is spent in relative obscurity in Quincy. During this period, he experiences tremendous sadness and joy. His son Thomas dies prematurely from alcoholism, and daughter Nabby dies from cancer at age 49. His beloved Abigail follows their children to the grave a few years later, leaving Adams alone after over 50 years of marriage. Adams is consoled by a renewed friendship with his old nemesis, Thomas Jefferson. They will carry on a decade-long correspondence that heals old wounds. In 1824, John Adams experiences perhaps the moment of pride in his nearly nine decades-long life: he sees his son, John Quincy Adams, become President of the United States. In one of the great historical ironies of all time, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson - the last surviving signers of the Declaration of Independence - will die on the same day: July 4, 1826. It is the 50th anniversary of the adoption of that immortal document that both labored so hard to help create. When I picked up "John Adams" for the first time, I hadn't really paid much attention to the historical figure who became the second President of the United States. After all, the career of this short, stocky, seemingly colorless man, whose one term as President was marked by controversy, political wrangling, and an apparent lack of great accomplishment, was nowhere as interesting as the careers of our more famous and charismatic Founding Fathers.
"John Adams" filled in many gaps in my knowledge of this great man. From this magnificent and highly informative book, I learned not only many facts about Adams' life that I didn't know before, but I also learned about the kind of man Adams was. McCullough goes to great lengths to give readers a glimpse of the true character of this extraordinary man. As with all books authored by David McCullough, "John Adams" is brilliantly written with McCullough's trademark mellifluous, elegant prose. The book reads more like a well crafted historical novel than a straight biography. Readers will find it lively and entertaining on every page. "John Adams" is the finest biography of America's second President available to general readers. Scholarly yet not stuffy, well researched, brilliantly organized, and eloquently written, it brings to life the man who rightfully belongs in the pantheon of the greatest Americans of all time. Read and enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Good intro to revolutionary personalities from Adams' view
Review: John Adams was not only a central figure in bringing about the American Revolution, but managed to stay alive for 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This makes the story of his life and the peripheral activities a fitting stage for introducing this time in our history. To be fair I have read little about this period so I have little to compare. It took me a couple of chapters before I was drawn in, but afterward I was hard pressed to put it down. McCullough's style is very engaging and succeeded at eliciting my love for his subjects. There were only a few occasions when McCullough's love for Adams and entourage caused me to doubt his objective evaluations. I was surprised to learn about the duplicitous nature of Jefferson, and the designs for power by Hamilton. I take away from this book a desire to read more of McCullough's work and a need to learn more about the history that so clearly shapes the society we inhabit.
Rating: 
Summary: A Real Snooze
Review: I have been reading this book for four weeks, and I am only halfway through it. I try, but my eyes just won't stay open through the long, dreary passages that seem to go nowhere. Much of what I have read is old stuff that we learned in sixth grade; Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, the First Continental Congress. But this author seems to have squeezed to life out of the story and served up the empty husks.
Rating:
Summary: Bravo, Mr. McCullough, fine job!
Review: If you like early American history this book is for you. It is not just about John Adams, it is really a biography of both Adams and Jefferson, and the people of their times. History has afforded most attention to Washington and Jefferson, without proper ado to Mr. Adams. This book changes all that. It tells the story of a great man and his amazing life.
Rating:
Summary: An exploratory look at John Adams-vintage McCullough.
Review: Biographies break down into two basic categories--exploratory narratives and explanatory narratives. This book is the former, a general--and altogether excellent--exploration of Adam's life and accomplishments. This seems to be the fitting choice when faced with Adams, one of those historical figures we all know of but know darn little about. This situation has more to do with Adams unfortunate juxtaposition between Washington and Jefferson in terms of his presidential stint as well as Hamilton's more celebrated role in the earlier Constitutional Convention process rather than any particular shortcomings in terms of either his accomplishments or the dynamics of his personal history. This being the case, McCullough obviously decided the exploratory approach--and informative rather than an inquisitive work--was a better choice for this effort. It was the right choice. The book fortunately avoids some of the typical pitfalls of a McCullough biography. His works can be a bit turgid in terms of the prose and are often a bit too monumental in their scope, flaws that marks such works as Truman and Path Between the Seas. This book is much more in line with the author's best efforts, such as Mornings on Horseback. Adams is certainly an extremely important figure in early American history and clearly there was a serious need for an excellent expository look at his life and accomplishments. We are in debt to Mr. McCullough for producing just such a work. This is a truly excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read !!!
Review: I read this not knowing really anything about historical biographies or other materials related to history but I thought this book was an outstanding read. I knew the basics involving our history as a country before reading John Adams but the author included so many key points and figures that I felt I was being taught it all over again in better fashion. After the read, I thought how much ignored John Adam's is in our history as a nation. He appears stubborn at times but I like the way he kept his ground and ignored much criticism that was placed on him. He endured a lot in life and worked through much of it with the help of his wife, who also should be a prominant figure in history. Overall, if you are looking for a excellent read, pick this book up.
Rating:
Summary: America's First Family - the Adams' of Braintree
Review: This is more than just a biography of John Adams, a great man in his own right, it is also a family history of his wife, and of his children in their early years. His wife, Abigail, and his son John Quincy Adams are fascinating characters in their own right. By use of the family leters, McCullough builds a riveting story of this prominent family in the heroic days of the American Revolution. Like all families of that age, the family knew tragedy - a baby daughter died, their beloved daughter Abigail (Nabby) died of breat cancer, another much-loved son Charles turned out to be a spendthrift and alcoholic and died young. Possibly the worst shock of John Adams's life was to learn of his son's betrayal of his own wife and children. John's pride was in his own eldest John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States, something which John Snr lived to see. Someone, the two Adams Presidents never got their due from history - until now. John Snr was overshadowed by Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, John Quincy by Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay. A new biography which does justice to John Quincy is called for. John Adams has somehow got the unfair tag 'loser' attached to him. The main fact is that he was the first Vice-President, and the second President, the first one to fail re-election. Yet, after George Washington, he was one of the 'indispensable men' of the Revolution, along with Jefferson and Franklin. True, he was cantankerous, proud and quick to take offence. But he was also the most modest of men, and unsparing of himself. His leadership style was to pick the best man for the job - hence his proposal of Washington for the job of Army commander (surely the most vital single proposal of the era), and his presuasion of Jefferson into writing the Declaration of Independence. Adams was also the one who argued for the Declaration in the Continental Congress.'He rose us in our seats' Jefferson said later. Later, when the two became friends in Paris, Jefferson wrote to Madison (something like - I cannot exactly recall the words) "If you become acquainted with Mr Adams, you cannot fail to love him". The reader experiences something like this during the book, which covers the full career of John Adams. If Jefferson was the soul of the Revolution, in some way Adams was the heart. A devout and plain-spoken New Englander, he embodied the radical Puritan spirit better than the planters Jefferson and Washington. Yet he was attacked as a 'monarchist' or 'monocrat' for his Federalist principles during his Presidency. He also at this time fell out with Jefferson, but the book follows closely the ups and downs in the relationship between the two men over the years. That the American Revolution, almost uniquely, did not 'devour its children' is due in large part to Adams, who steered a moderate course between the Republicans of Jefferson and the High Federalists during his Presidency. The peace with France that followed the undeclared war between the countries was his triumph. Following his Presidency, the 1800 Election was possibly the most crucial one in American history - it was at this time that the first opposition party was to take power legally, and the young American institutions were put to the test. As pointed out recently, by Henry Jaffa, the realisation dawned that factional parties did not necessarily mean civil strife, as long as certain rules were followed. While Adams seemed to be a preennnial 'second' in politics, he has an impressive list of firsts - first President to live in the White House, first accredited Ambassador of the United States (to the Netherlands), first President to father a President,first Ambassador to Great Britain (as later were both his son and grand-son). Already mentioned was the way he marked both Washington and Jefferson for great tasks, another inspired appointment was John Marshall as Chief Justice of the United States. Adams was certainly a lesser President that Jefferson, the man to which he is most often compared and contrasted. Jefferson ranks with Washington, but also with Lincoln and Roosevelt. Like these last two, Jefferson was not only a supreme party politician, hy also had the facility of being able to articulate the aspirations of his followers - possibly better than they could themselves. He could understand and empathise with the common man in a way Adams never could. However, after reading this book, I think John Adams was altogether a better man, in sense of an all-rounded individual.
I urge you to read and judge for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Another hagiography
Review: This is an impressive book. The scholarship is unbeatable, the narrative impressive, and the story remarkable. It is also, on a physical level, quite gorgeous: lovely font and paper and cover. And yet why does it seem that modern historians feel the need to either glorify or assasinate the character of their subjects of biography? This book falls squarely in the former category, with no misstep, flaw, or incongruity in Adams presented without a lenghty rationalization. An example is McCullough's treatment of the Alien and Sedition Act (lasting all of two and half pages), surely one of the lowest points in US government and its earliest and most egregious breach of the Constitution. McCullough lays the blame on Congress and then tries to explain why the measure might have been necessary in a time of (un)decalred war. Adams was a great man, and this book does much to restore him to a deserved place amongst the founders of our country. McCullough also does a great deal to draw a clear and sobering comparison between Adams and Jefferson. Yet, interest flags near the end of this tale, as one realizes that Adam's temper has been dulled, his character softened, his views blurred, and his accomplishments exaggerated (as great as they were, McCullough manages to oversate them; countless accomplishments are described as bringing Adams "more pride than any other.") in the interests of sanctifying a man many of his contemporaries found reason to dislike. One can feel McCullogh's desire to burnish Adams' resputation, which inevitably leads to distrust of the author. How could it be that so many found him to be insane and yet we read so little of why they might think so? Surely there is a more interesting and compelling man behind the praise McCullough lavishes on Adams.
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