Pros: A fascinating figure in fascinating times. Superb balance and graceful writing.
Cons: Very little of any consequence.
The Bottom Line: An important work that renders long overdue praise and credit to the unsung second President of the United States. Highly recommended.
lyagushka's Full Review: David Willis McCullough and Nelson Runger - John A...
In this excellent work covering the life and career of John Adams, the author, David McCullough, illuminates perhaps the least appreciated of America's founding fathers with great skill and a level hand. McCullough's writing in John Adams finds a perfect point of balance on the multiple spectra that confound so many biographers. Although he devotes considerable time to fleshing out the historic setting and to Abigail Adams and Thomas Jefferson, he never strays too far from John Adams, his primary subject. And while providing plenty of factual details, McCullough focuses most closely on Adams as a human being rather than as a lawyer, statesman or president. Similarly, McCullough succeeds in portraying a lifelike figure of great personal integrity and honor without succumbing to the temptation to idealize the man.
McCullough's primary sources for this book are The Adams Papers, a "national treasure" as the author calls them, consisting of diaries, family papers and most importantly, personal letters. Adams was an untiring letter writer and the enormous trove of remarkably candid correspondence between Adams and his wife Abigail as well as his children, grandchildren, friends and colleagues forms the basis of McCullough's research.
An experienced and acclaimed biographer, McCullough is also the author of other works of American history, including Mornings on Horseback about Teddy Roosevelt and Truman, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize, as he also did for John Adams.
The book covers the life of Adams (1735-1826) chronologically, but devotes little attention to Adams' early life before he entered upon his university studies at the age of 15. McCullough provides some background on Adams' forbears by weaving it throughout the story of his life rather than by devoting a separate chapter to them. The twelve chapters, grouped into three parts, roughly correspond to his early life and career, his government appointments to Paris, Amsterdam and London, and finally his terms as Vice-President, President and subsequent retirement
In terms of resources for the reader, McCullough provides many pages of source notes, a bibliography and a good index at the end of the book. At the beginning of the book is a family tree of the Adams family - quite useful for keeping track of the many Johns and Abigails, as well as dates of births and deaths.
The Life of Adams
Born a 5th generation farmer in the small town of Braintree, Massachusetts, John Adams was the pride of his devout and socially unassuming father's later years. Possessed of an above average intelligence if not brilliance, his signal characteristics were his diligence, his fortitude in the face of adversity and an often remarked capacity for deep friendship and affection. Schooled locally and then at Harvard, Adams embraced the study of Greek and Latin classical writers with an admiration and love that few intellectuals can ever hope to match. He found that the ideals of the ancients fitted neatly with the hard-working, dutiful and pious upbringing that was common currency in New England during his boyhood. From this pastiche of influences, Adams gathered the essential threads of virtue, independence and duty that were to be the lodestars of his entire life and career.
A signer of the Declaration of Independence, delegate to the Continental Congress for Massachusetts, ambassador to the courts of Louis XVI and George III, and finally high elected official, in all his undertakings John Adams held to his personal aphorism: "Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives." One proof of Adams' personal virtue and dedication is that for all the opprobrium and slander heaped upon him during his terms as President and Vice-President, there was never the slightest hint of scandal or corruption of any type. Adams was neither a rake nor a spendthrift, neither nepotistic nor elitist and capable of neither flattery nor equivocation.
No conscientious biographer of John Adams could fail to recognize the invaluable partnership that he formed with his wife, Abigail. Abigail Adams was John's equal in patriotism, duty, sacrifice, intelligence and political acumen. The profound bond between them admitted few if any disagreements and sustained them through years of separation during Adams' time in Europe, as well as the deaths of three of their beloved children. McCullough gives her compelling personality and her contributions due space in this biography, and inspires in the reader a deep admiration for her.
Style
I found the simple and straightforward language that McCullough uses throughout John Adams to be a genuine pleasure to read. His writing is remarkably clear and sure. Never does he flaunt his scholarship or learning by using overblown language or needlessly complex grammar. True, some of the letters and documents he quotes contain slightly antiquated words and structures, but rarely would these pose any problems for a moderately well read high school student.
At times McCullough uses other figures, such as Franklin, Washington and Jefferson as appropriate foils for comparison and contrast with Adams. This is most illuminating to readers with some prior familiarity with these other personalities, but McCullough always provides enough detail to make the comparisons instructive for all readers. Where Franklin was consummately politic and discreet, Adams was utterly unable to dissimulate; his view was that an honorable man ought to frankly declare and boldly defend his opinions. Where Washington possessed an unmatched gravity, physical dignity and personal magnetism, Adams was thickset, physically unimposing - almost to the point of gracelessness - and marked by a homespun sort of candor and lack of affectation. But perhaps the most striking contrasts are those between Jefferson and Adams. Placed next to Adams, Jefferson appears positively dissolute, self-indulgent, morally bankrupt, perfidious and hypocritical.
Shortcomings
It is difficult to quibble with minor flaws in such a masterful work. The only complaint that comes to mind is the relatively shallow coverage of Adams' terms as Vice-President and President. I do not mean to say by any means that McCullough entirely neglected this portion of Adams' career. Perhaps it was McCullough's deliberate choice to focus more closely on the rest of this extraordinary ninety year life. Still, the author's skill at illuminating such a life left me wishing he had turned that skill to the twelve year period when Adams served in the nation's highest offices.
My reaction
I found John Adams, quite absorbing and inspiring. Where other early American figures are larger than life and nearly too worthy to be believable, Adams had his all too human qualities, which McCullough makes no efforts to hide or rationalize. Certainly, this biography has given me the sense that Adams did not nearly receive his due in praise or recognition in his own lifetime, and still does not today. I believe that this book could do much to remedy that deficit.
McCullough has portrayed John Adams as a man of near absolute rectitude and moral fiber. His genuine sacrifices - of personal happiness and material gain, not to mention repeatedly exposing his own life to grave risks - easily earn him a place among the titans of the American Revolution. His character and his actions also make a mockery of the so-called leaders that presently fill our public offices. Where are the men and women of Adams' stature today? Are there any in this day and age? If so, they clearly aren't entering the political arena.
The serious personal losses and grief that Adams suffered in his later years - the destitution and death of his youngest son because of alcoholism, watching his only daughter succumb to cancer and finally the deaths of his wife and closest friends - evoked in me a deep sympathy for Adams. I see it as McCullough's greatest triumph that he renders a truly great man as a complex human character, not as a marble Roman statue or a saint.
Final Thoughts
I can unreservedly recommend this book to anyone interested in early American history. I think all Americans would benefit by reading John Adams. And perhaps if every American did read it, the country as a whole would benefit. The tone and style of David McCullough's writing places it well within the grasp of anyone with a high school reading level. Certainly an interested 15-year-old could get through the book and there is no material within that parents could find objectionable.
To those interested in early American history, I would also highly recommend:
• Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams - Lynne Withey's examination of a very hands-on First Lady
• Understanding Thomas Jefferson - E.M. Halliday's unveiling of our most enigmatic president
• Patriarch - Richard Norton Smith's excellent volume on George Washington's presidency
• The First American: Benjamin Franklin - a superlative biography on America's premier elder statesman
• Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero - for those interested in reading just a bit further afield
• A Midwife's Tale - a fascinating look at life in pre-revolutionary Maine based on the journal of midwife
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