#Biography John Adams

FEBRUARY

23. by David McCullough

Finish date: 01 February 2022
Genre: Biography
Rating: A++++++++++++
Review:

Bad news: Part 1 – the book does not start with a bang. So please, do NOT give up on this book! Timeline: 8 months: Felt like reading a 18th C. version of C-Span….blow by blow accounts of the Congress of Philadelphia and the difficult birth of a new United Stats of America, July 4, 1776. Nice to read/skim….but all in all boring because we’ve all read so much about this.

Good news Part II – Now book really picks up steam on page 199 beginning with Adams’s departure to France with young son, John Quincy. Adams will join Ben Franklin at French court to negotiate an alliance. I especially liked CH 6…JUST WONDERFUL! It is a tender, loving look at a husband and wife reunited July 20 1784…after a separation of 4 years!! Abigail overcomes her fears of the North Atlantic sea voyage b/c her love for “my dearest “ is stronger.

Good news: Woman’s perspective….always great to read!! Abigail Adams’s descriptions of the North Atlantic voyage (ship, crew and weather). She has the eye for detail that just gives the reader a pause from all the ‘history’. Abigail Adams was a down-to-earth New England puritan and her observations about the French Louis XVI court and the snobbish British society are so much fun to read.

Good news: Part III – John Adams’s term as 2nd President of US: Intrigue , backstabbing politics and finally returning to Peacefield…his home in Massachusetts.

Personal:

Reading this book has given met the needed background to finally watch epic series 2008 John Adams. It won 13 Prime Time Emmy awards including Best Actor Paul Giamatti.

The greatest strength of this book… and also any other books by D. McCullough is the author’s ability to bring history to life! People are living and breathing on every page!

Motto John Adams…I will follow his advice! “You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket. You will never have an idle hour.”

Mrs. Adams’s narrative with vivid, insightful details brings a feeling of balance in the book…the frenetic revolution, war, and birth of an independent US….and the tender scenes of domestic life with John Adams and her children.

For all the biographies I’ve read….never have I enjoyed reading a history as much as this one. Don’t make the same mistake I did, judged the book by the cover…again! I thought this would be just another a stuffy history book. How wrong As I said…don’t make my mistake….open the book, skim part 1 if necessary and the book
really starts with part 2.

I was just swept away by John and Abigail! Never knew T. Jefferson indulged in “backstabbing politics” Never knew how vindictive A. Hamilton was. It’s all in the book….great learning moment!

Call me sappy and overly sentimental, but I was absolutely awe struck by the level of commitment and affection that John and Abigail felt and showed to one another even across great distances and during long years when they hardly even saw each other. It was biography with a pulse and also a love story!
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