"John Adams", the Pulitzer Prize winner for Biography, tells the sweeping tale of one of America's greatest historical figures.
John Adams was known for his brutal honesty, his brave autonomy, and his sometimes irritable nature. What he thought of as the "Great Cause" was the United States' freedom, and what he questioned was religion, the meaning of friendship, loyalty, and those beliefs which will cast a shadow or light on future generations. It was his heroism that led him to the presidency, our nations second, following George Washington. He risked much in journeys across the Pyrenees mountains and over the ocean of the Boston frigate in the freezing temperatures of the 1778 wintertime.
In his personal life he was known for his loving and passionate marriage to Abigail Adams, a woman regarded as possessing great valor and wisdom. Though many also regarded John as a man of integrity, he may have been known for his wild ideas, as much as his ideals. These very values, and John's approach to communicating them to his countrymen, could be what protected America from engaging in another war after the Revolution. Even the turbulent relationship between Adams and Thomas Jefferson is discussed here in a captivating, sweeping style of narration, one meant to be read aloud.
David McCullough, born in 1931, has won the Pulitzer and the National Book Award for his biographical works. His voice is well known to fans of PBS's American Experience series, as are his other non-fiction narratives Truman, and 1776. John Adams and Truman were both adapted for television mini-series.
"I have rarely read a nonfiction book this quickly, and certainly never a biography or a book about history predating World War II. I have long admired David McCullough and I knew I should bite this one off. I am certainly glad I did. His writing style is just so easy to read. His admiration for Adams is apparent, yet I didn't feel that he ignored the statesman's failings or overstated his contributions. I have not been much of a student of colonial history, so I learned a lot from this book about the (groan) Politics of this now-idealized era. I also had no idea how involved Adams was in foreign policy before his presidency or in preventing America getting sucked into a disastrous, and perhaps independence-ending, war with England or France soon after the fledgling country was born. McCullough includes many sociological details about the time period and about Abigail Adams' experience as a woman basically running a farm and raising her children alone (if John was great, Abigail was AMAZING, BTW). Some portions of the book, particularly those covering Adams' life after his presidency, were perhaps more detailed than necesary. But overall this book is a great achievement."
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Sheather (4 out of 5 stars)