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John Adams
List Price: $18.95 Our Price: $12.89
Paperback - 03 September, 2002
Simon & Schuster
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Author: David McCullough
ISBN: 0743223136
Number of Media: 1
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| Paperback Description Left to his own devices, John Adams might have lived out his days as a Massachusetts country lawyer, devoted to his family and friends. As it was, events swiftly overtook him, and Adams--who, David McCullough writes, was "not a man of the world" and not fond of politics--came to greatness as the second president of the United States, and one of the most distinguished of a generation of revolutionary leaders. He found reason to dislike sectarian wrangling even more in the aftermath of war, when Federalist and anti-Federalist factions vied bitterly for power, introducing scandal into an administration beset by other difficulties--including pirates on the high seas, conflict with France and England, and all the public controversy attendant in building a nation. Overshadowed by the lustrous presidents Washington and Jefferson, who bracketed his tenure in office, Adams emerges from McCullough's brilliant biography as a truly heroic figure--not only for his significant role in the American Revolution but also for maintaining his personal integrity in its strife-filled aftermath. McCullough spends much of his narrative examining the troubled friendship between Adams and Jefferson, who had in common a love for books and ideas but differed on almost every other imaginable point. Reading his pages, it is easy to imagine the two as alter egos. (Strangely, both died on the same day, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.) But McCullough also considers Adams in his own light, and the portrait that emerges is altogether fascinating. --Gregory McNamee |
| Reviews From Our Customers
Great Biography I liked the description of Adam's contribution to the MA Constitution--maybe the most important of his life.
A Tale Well Told This is the first David McCullough I have read, but it won't be the last! When I came to the end of it, I had the same sense of melancholy that a person feels when they've finished a good novel and just can't STAND to see it end. He did an excellent job of bringing this often-overlooked man to life and making him a more sympathetic and contributory member of the exclusive club we call the Founding Fathers. As of the time I'm writing this, the release of McCullough's "1776" is still a few weeks away. I CAN'T WAIT!!!
Not recommended I feel compelled to weigh in on this one since it was such a runaway best-seller during the summer of 2001. David McCullough (of Truman fame) is one of our favorite authors, and it pains us to see him on autopilot like this. A biography should be more than a convenient arrangement of the subject's personal correspondence. Yet McCullough relies almost entirely on President Adams (quite voluminous) diaries and letters to his wife. The only supporting material seems to left over from a book on Jefferson McCullough abandoned. Read this if you want to know what being John Adams was like. Don't read it if you have any interest in gaining insight into how his life fit into the great drama of the founding of America.
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