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Title: John Adams by David McCullough ISBN: 0-7432-2313-6 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 03 September, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.61 (525 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Great book, great man -- but maybe not such a great guy
Comment: I thought the book was very well written, though I should disclose that I listened to the abridged audio version. In any case, I thought the book was great: informative, enjoyable, and with the right mix of macroscopic and microscopic detail. (I assume that the unabridged version goes into much greater detail, which I don't regret missing).
In some reviews, McCullough is criticized for being too forgiving of Adams' personal and political faults. I disagree. In fact, my overriding impression of Adams after listening to this book was that I probably would not have liked him at all had I known him personally. For someone who esteemed humility in others, he was outwardly very arrogant. And despite his frequent claims to desire the simple life, he seemed continually determined to attain high office and personal glory, even at the expense of familial relationships. He often claimed to be unconcerned with how history would remember him, but I can't help but feel that many of his letters to Jefferson and even family members were tinted with attempts to reshape his reputation for posterity. One response from Jefferson in the book suggests that even T.J. suspected Adams' motives for wanting to rehash old battles in his letters.
To be fair, I do believe that Adams sincerely changed for the better once he was out of office and out of the limelight, and that he was finally able to enjoy the company of friends and family above power and prestige. I also gained new respect for the key role that he played in building the new nation.
Rating: 5
Summary: Confronts prevailing liberal focus on Jefferson & Franklin
Comment: For God-fearing, Bible-believing, hard-working, flag-loving Americans it must sometimes be a puzzlement (if you know the whole truth about our Founding Fathers) to understand how America became as great as she did, or spawned so many generations of people just like them, if Jefferson and Franklin were our nations most influential founders.
Not to say that the latter two were not great men. But have you ever noticed the abundance of modern biographies available on Franklin and Jefferson in comparison to the relative paucity of modern material on Adams, or even Washington. The fog begins to lift when you discover, through this biography, less-than-savory facts about Franklin and Jefferson. Liberals don't want you to know those less-than-savory facts about the man who fell in love with France (Franklin) or the man who supplied us with the phrase (not found in the founding documents) "separation of church and state". And apparently they want you to know nothing at all about John Adams, because they don't write about him. Perhaps it's because he embodies all that God-fearing, hard-working, flag-loving Americans believe in. Jefferson (who was not on speaking terms with Adams for years) was more "liberal" than modern liberals. He at least was honest enough to describe Adams as the "colossus of the American revolution".
Read this book if you want to know the whole truth about the whole mosiac of bedrock people this republic was founded on. And once you've read it, spread the word.
Rating: 4
Summary: Did not suffer fools gladly.....
Comment: Having nothing beyond an elementary knowledge of our Founding Fathers, this book has caused me to load up my Wish-List with more biographies from the era. Biographies, particularly of past eras, seem to be divided into the mind-numbingly boring and those that flow so well that you are sorry for it to end. This is one of the latter.
The more I read about our history, the more I see that it is very difficult to impossible to place current events in the proper perspective without a knowledge of what proceeded them. It seems to have opinions on political matters without having a grasp of this is, to a degree, to pull a random idea out of the air and hope for the best.
A great story about a great man that will help you better understand the origins and ideas of the men who framed American life as we know it.
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Title: Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis ISBN: 0375705244 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 05 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Benjamin Franklin : An American Life by Walter Isaacson ISBN: 0684807610 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Truman by David McCullough ISBN: 0671869205 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 14 June, 1993 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis ISBN: 0679764410 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 07 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris ISBN: 0812966007 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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