books:

	John Adams David McCullough Simon & Schuster, 2008 - 768 pages average customer review:based on 771 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This is history on a grand scale -- a book about politics and war and social issues, but also about human nature, love, religious faith, virtue, ambition, friendship, and betrayal, and the far-reaching consequences of noble ideas. Above all, John Adams is an enthralling, often surprising story of one of the most important and fascinating Americans who ever lived.

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John Adams is a fascinating read!

I had no idea John Adams was such an intelligent and fascinating man! This book not only give insight into his thoughts and ideas about the future of the United States, but also lets us in on the love and admiration he had for his wife, Abigail, who is just as intelligent and fascinating as he is. Their letters to each other just make me sad to think that letter writing is a lost art. This is not a fast read. It needs to be savored for the historical facts and information about this great man and how this country came into being.


Page Turner

I absolutely loved this book! I enjoy reading history and biographies, but as anyone who does the same knows dry and dull writing can simply kill the experience. David McCullough is an amazing writer and honors his philosophy of making history interesting and turning it into a story. The book is very well researched, historically accurate, and interesting to read. I found it a "page turner" and finished the entire book in a very short period of time because it read like a novel and not some try academic tome. To anyone that has an interest in American history and the Founding Fathers you will not be disappointed with this book.

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Terrific Book for U.S. History

John Adams is a wonderful book for anyone studying U.S. History. I have learned just as much ( or more) in this book as in my textbook. The writing is terrific and not boring at all. I have learned all that I ever needed to learn on early American history in this book, and I've enjoyed it! Students could skip the first couple chapters in their text book and learn just as much in John Adams!


Deserved attention for John Adams

Thomas Jefferson and George Washington are well known as founding fathers of the USA. Less well known but at least equally important is John Adams, the second President. David McCullough brings John Adams back to life in this very well-written and mostly easy to understand biography. It is gratifying that such a great man is receiving some well-deserved attention. However, the reader who is unfamiliar with the history of the USA will have some difficulty tying all the pieces together, such as the role of the Continental Congress. Of course, John Adams didn't work alone and McCullough does an admirable job of discussing some of Adams' contemporaries, including Thomas Jefferson. Indeed, this book was to have been a biography of both men but the author decided to focus on Adams. This is made obvious by the text because McCullough spends a disproportionate amount of space on Jefferson. Another key figure in the book is Abigail Adams, John Adams' wife and a remarkable woman in her own right. Unfortunately, McCullough quotes extensively from letters between John and Abigail, but given the changes to English over the past 200 years, this wasn't really meaningful. Interestingly the book ends with a conversation with the author section which was actually quite interesting. Overall this book taught me a lot and was well worth the time investment.

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An excellent biography of an often overlooked figure.

David McCullough continues to impress with this very well done biography, which is masterfully woven into a grand and sweeping broader historical narrative. The biographical content is not limited to Adams, but also encompasses wife Abigail and their children. Also figuring very prominently are Thomas Jefferson and, to a lesser degree, Benjamin Franklin.

John Adams' life and career are traced from his primary educational experience and introduction to the practice of law, to his participation in the Contintental Congresses, to his duties as minister to France, Holland and England, to his tenures as vice-president and president, and beyond. For example, Adams' role as a primary architect of the Declaration of Independence is highlighted, while his absence from the Constitutional Convention is equally notable. Of particular interest is the emphasis on the vagaries of early diplomatic efforts with the French, English and Dutch courts.

The great strength of this book is the veritable treasury of primary source documents quoted and cited throughout, particularly the correspondence of the Adamses and Jefferson, among others. These provide seldom-seen insights into the deepest thoughts and emotions of people who, to many readers, have been little more than vague names in history books. McCullough skillfully brings them to life and breathes into them a vibrant humanity that causes his narrative to read more like a novel than a history. My only complaint is the author's intermittent tendency to get bogged down in picayune details such as the arrangements of the various Adams residences or the finer points of their social lives and fashions. While these lend color to the tale, they prove more of a tedious distraction than a benefit. Overall, though, I was very pleased with this volume and would recommend it to anyone with more than a passing interest in American history.

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