John Adams by David McCullough Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of John Adams
Book Review: A New Hero For Me
Summary: 5 Stars
I learned so much reading this book and have a newfound admiration for John Adams. If not for his keen foresight, his tireless work in Congress we may well not have the government and freedoms we now enjoy. What a true patriot who did all he could without the fanfare and adulation he absolutely deserves, but he probably wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you, David, for your thorough research on a man whose life, one among a choice few, has touched every American.Book Review: A Perspective
Summary: 5 Stars
Have you ever been concerned about the intrigue of National American politics and longed for a simpler time? Are you comfortable in the thought that the Founders never dealt with some of that nonsense? Unfortunately, that time never existed: the first election in the United States introduced modern political intrigue. Adams lived in a different time that is more similar to the current, politically, than different.
John Adams, from my middle- and high-school memories, was not as central to the American Revolution as it seems he actually was. It might have been due to poor studying (most probably), poor memory, poor history books, or John Adams' all too human foibles which may have prevented his veneration in a central role in the American psyche. In any case, for years I wondered why Adams appeared in so many period paintings and why he occupied the central position in some. Mr. McCullough's book resolved that particular curiosity for me and I hope it does for you as well.
Despite his intellect, character, and nature, John Adams suffered from the same worries and personal flaws from which people today suffer. While this book may be considered `too detailed' for some, it is precisely due to the wealth of the Adams' correspondence that Mr. McCullough can give us the most in-depth knowledge of a Signer and New England man of the American Revolution.
I've read a few books on the Founding Fathers, but this was by far the most detailed and most enjoyable yet!
- JT Pickering
Book Review: A Revolutionary Hero
Summary: 5 Stars
In today's history texts, President Adams toils behind the juggernauts of Washington and Jefferson. Vice President for 8 years, President for 4, negotiator of European deals that may have saved the Revolution, he receives credit today for naught.McCullough's book changes this in a fantastic way. To bring the lives of one of the most fascinating and misunderstood Americans to today's readers in a terribly entertaining and engaging novel that surpasses most biographies I've read is a debt that will never be repaid.
It is usually easy to recommend books to certain audiences. This book is an exception. Anyone who considers themself an American and a patriot will be enriched by reading this book.
Book Review: A TALE OF TWO BROTHERS
Summary: 4 Stars
As David McCullough unravels intrigues of America's second President, one of the most sobering mysteries revolves around the star-studded journey of John Adams' son John Quincy. The Adams family offered a launching pad for soaring John Q. but seemed to dig more of a grave for the three infancy-surviving siblings concocted from the same gene pool and molded by the same household.
The most striking sibling contrast flowing from McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning pen is that of John Quincy and younger brother Charles. These brothers shared journeys with father John to Europe, as well as overlapping education and grand adventures that were more intertwined than those of sister Nabby and brother Thomas.
For John Quincy, his maiden voyage to Europe produced unusual opportunities for emotional intimacy between the precocious son and his austere father. John Quincy's linguistic skill and winsome ways won admiration of the diplomatic community, to the great delight of his proud dad. But when nine-year-old Charles traveled abroad, the younger brother's debut on the European stage was in the shadow of his popular elder sibling. Gifted John Quincy was recruited as a junior diplomat to Russia while Charles was shipped back home and to boarding school. His family isolation grew as mother Abigail and sister Nabby joined John and John Quincy in Europe.
As McCullough weaves John Adams' tale we see repeated abandonment of Charles as John Quincy thrives in diplomatic collaboration with their father. John Q. climbed to stellar success as one of America's greatest ever diplomats before duplicating his father's capture of the White House. But as McCullough tells it, poor Charles seemed to implode at every turn. His law career sputtered into failure. He lost life savings entrusted to him by family star John Quincy, alienating his parents in the process. John Adams bitterly complained that his younger son was a bigger loser than even King David's notorious son Absalom, who was at least enterprising. The father's scathing take on son Charles was that he was "a mere rake, blood and beast...a madman possessed of the devil...I renounce him." Charles dulled the pain of failure and rejection with alcohol. Abandoning his wife and children, he died tragically at a tender age of 30.
As McCullough draws us into the private triumphs and trauma of this remarkable Founding Family, the courage, virtues and sheer brilliance of John, Abigail and John Quincy seem truly extraordinary. But John and Abigail's noble parental ambitions also seemed at times to purge the family of human warmth essential to nurture young hearts. Somewhat muted in McCullough's John Adams is a spirit-crushing alienation seen in the tortured lives of Nabby, Charles and Thomas. Nor does McCullough track a repeat pattern noted by other historians in John Quincy's children--an emotionally malnourished third generation that lurched into alcoholism, tragedy and premature death.
As a family counselor, I find buried in the subplots of McCullough's depiction a great John Adams' gift to our own generation, if only we can learn this from him: Brilliant or not, famous or obscure, families that cannot or will not nurture their children's hearts risk a grim legacy. This isn't psycho-babble. It's a hazard flare blazing still from imploded lives of the John Adams clan.
REVIEWER: Beverly Hubble Tauke, LCSW, is author of "Overcoming the Sins of the Family" and is a Virginia-based family counselor and lecturer.
Book Review: A Tale Well Told
Summary: 4 Stars
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!!!