A focused compendium of our second President. Ellis paints a vivid picture of the historical significance and often overlooked relevance of the irascible John Adams. As the title indicates, it is not a complete biographical overview but rather a precise look at his legacies that shaped the American Revolution and policies. At times it came across dull and plodding, but for the most part it was intellectually stimulating and educational. I would recommend David McCullough's John Adams though, which is the superior biography.

One of Joseph Ellis' many biographies of the nation's Founders. I found it much more insightful than David McCullough's much longer biography, John Adams, published the same year. Ellis writes with a wit, clarity and grace that makes you wonder how anyone can say they don't love history. Ellis also has written biographs of Washington (His Excellency) and Jefferson (American Spinix), as well as a number of books on the nation at the creation.

This is a fantastic book. I found it completely unpersuasive. But it is a fantastic book.

The reason I so heartily commend it is that it engaged me. I wrestled with Ellis. I went back and forth, agreeing and disagreeing, fist pumping one moment only to drop the book in my lap with exasperation the next.

What Ellis sets out to achieve is to understand why Adams is so misunderstood and to appreciate why he has remained unappreciated relative to his peers—Washington and Jefferson certainly, but even Madison and Hamilton too.

And I don't know, I just don't find "Well yeah Adams was a jerk but he was right" that good of an argument?

Or that "He just couldn't control himself, he had to get it out so he erupted on people as a coping mechanism" merits excusing him?

And it takes until page 216—216! out of 242!—until Ellis gets around to exploring why Adams has not been remembered nor as highly regarded as other Founders. This should have been the main chunk of the book (it is mostly about his interpersonal relations) but in any event, here too I was unsatisfied.

"This guy Croly wrote a book that was all about TJ and it became popular in political circles early in the 20th century so Adams got passed over." Really? One book had the power to erase Adams?

"Adams was conservative and America became liberal so Adams, you're out."

"Well we didn't really have his writings available until recently so when they were building statues in DC, we weren't really that aware of Adams legacy yet."

Eh.

Those are caricatures but you get the essence of the thing.

For the record, I agree with Ellis. Adams deserves better. He was a brilliant architect of political structure. Absolutely brilliant. And his understanding of human nature is some of the most profound stuff you will ever encounter. I just did not think Ellis argued the case well. His best point was that Lincoln flubbed it in the Douglas debates by invoking TJ rather than Adams. Now that was a seminal moment in American history that did the carry power to shape retrospective opinion—opinion that omitted Adams.

But my contentions with Ellis are exactly why I love the book. Reading it engaged me in an active and lively conversation with Ellis, a debate in the true Adams spirit. And if Ellis is able to revive Adams within his readers' minds, is that not an even greater success than convincing them of his points?

(That is, a revived Adams less the jerk part, I hope.)

This is the second book dedicated to Adams that I have read and absolutely loved (the first being McCoullough’s award winning biography), and perhaps I’ve already known this and said this, but it bears repeating with more emphasis… Adams was an extraordinary person!

There is so much in this book to agree with, disagree with, and go into deep thought on. It focuses on Adam’s intellectual and political thought, not by rehashing his life, but instead focusing on the evidence we have from his post-political life and retirement. If you know the basics on Adams, you know he was well read and you know of his famous correspondence with Jefferson in retirement, but this book brings those things to life (and much more) as a worthy subject of their own (they are). I only wish it could have been longer so that Ellis could have dove into the Jefferson/Adams Plato metaphysics conversation that is mentioned but not evaluated. I say this a bit jokingly, as the book is actually a perfectly fine length for it’s goal and subject, but just that this is so firmly in my wheelhouse that I would have been happy to read more sidebars.

Some of the details in Adams’ thinking and in trying to understand how he differed in this realm from the other intellectual heavy weights of the time like Jefferson might be too much for some readers. There’s a lot of detailed analysis of thought. This would be especially true if you don’t have a solid background on Adam’s life already, or the generic landscape of early American politics. I would definitely recommend reading some less tightly focused works first if you haven’t already (McCoullough’s Adams is one of the best biographies I have ever read and should be read first imho). Once you have, and if you are interested in the political philosophy of the time, I think this is a must read to help understand the complexities of thought surrounding the founders, the different and nuanced opinions on general political philosophies that they had, and how remarkable some of these men were.

There are some things that aren’t great here, for example, like Adams himself, Ellis seems to be quite sure of his negative assessment of Hamilton. This not only creates a highly negative caricature of him, but also leads to leaving out another dimension that could have been explored in more detail. We are left only with some interesting introductory comments from Adams (and Jefferson) on capitalism and finance, without a figure that could provide ideas in that realm to be a springboard for Adams to play his contrarian role (given the nature of Adams, I know he could not have been silent here).

I think I've said enough here; I have to get back to my reading list and try to catch up, as I'm aiming to reach a point where I've read 1/100th of what Adams read.

Received as from a Goodreads giveaway!

This book is a fascinating study of one of the more frequently overlooked Founding Fathers. Ellis provides ample example of John Adams importance to both the revolution and the resulting country we live in today. It's also fascinating to see how many of the issues we deal with today were explicitly mentioned by Adams as potential issues. An overall fantastic biography that's both easy to read and fairly in-depth considering it's "short" 300 page length.

This book made me obsessed with John Adams. He's flawed and thoughtful and wise and honest, and seems like the sort of person who would be a difficult and rewarding friend. I considered and reconsidered my political/societal beliefs in trying to understand his.

The American founding is as much myth as reality, a collective story sculpted to anchor our country's unique form of nationalism. Similarly, those present at the creation are almost buried by the expectations and legends that have accumulated over time. Inevitably, some names stand out as proxies for contemporary battles, so we know less of the actual men and more of the idols we have made in their images. Jefferson has been particularly bandied and abused, usually with parties on both sides of the argument seeking to claim his imprimatur.



John Adams is different, often viewed as a secondary character, someone perhaps in the right place at the right time but without terribly right ideas. Few if any claim his mantle today, and few students can explain his role in the American pantheon. Despite being vaguely related, I could not articulate his contribution beyond some basic facts about his role in establishing early American neutrality. Hence, my interest in this short and provocative biography. This is not a simple narration of a great unsung man, however. Rather, Ellis examines the waning years of Adams' life, his correspondence with key figures such as Jefferson, his wife Abigail, and Benjamin Rush, and his own voluminous writings to examine the legacy of the Revolution among contemporaries. This is a refreshing narrative and uncovers some new insights into the American psyche. And in the process, Adams is restored to his central and unique role in our history.

Read more at https://znovels.blogspot.com/2020/06/...

I've long been a fan of Joseph Ellis, ever since I read American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic and Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation in early 2008. In fact, this is his 7th book I've read. Ellis has an incredible knack for dialing in on the personalities and characters of those he writes about. His Excellency: George Washington and American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson are amazing - you really feel like you understand what made them tick. And this book on John Adams - the most influential of the revolutionary leaders, yet the least remembered - is no exception. So, why only three stars from me? Perhaps it's because Adams is Ellis' personal favorite (and I kind of agree) and he's written about him extensively in the other books I've read, including First Family: Abigail and John Adams which focuses on Adams' relationship with his equally intelligent and amazing wife. And although this is the first book Ellis wrote about Adams, I didn't feel like I was reading much that I hadn't already read. Or maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this book - I honestly found it interesting but I just wasn't excited by it. Maybe I'd looked forward to reading it for so long that it couldn't possibly live up to the expectation I had hoped for. Most others who read this book will probably give it 4 or 5 stars - and it's worthy of that - but I struggled. Still, there's probably no one else out there writing about the American Revolutionary generation that is as insightful as Ellis.

4.5 stars. I have to admit, the strong rating might have something to do with the fact that I just love John Adams. Ellis, one of my favorite history authors, does not disappoint. This isn't really a biography; rather, it's a look into the later years in Adams' life, Adams' concern for his place in history, and his legacy. This is a probe of Adams' psychology and inner life more than a recounting of events. Since Adams wrote so prolifically and was pretty much incapable of disguising his true feelings, Ellis is able to piece together Adams' rambling and sometimes contradictory statements to give us an in-depth look at the man.

Good read, Joseph Ellis is a great historian. Having now read several books written by Mr. Ellis, I can't help but notice how he sterilizes faith from his treatment of individuals. This sadly can make them less life like than they ought to be.

I found this to be an excellent book. Easily read and entertaining as well. The author is very meticulous about his references.

Here's an entertaining snippet from the book - John Adams' opinion of the upper house of the legislature.

From page 152:

...Adams's motives for favoring the creation of a senate were entirely different and seemed to smack of an affection for a European-styled aristocracy. "The rich, the well-born, and the able, acquire an influence among the people that will soon be too much for simple honesty and plain sense," he wrote in the Defence. He argued that these natural aristocrats "must, therefore, be separated from the mass and placed by themselves in a senate," an arrangement, he claimed, "that is, to all honest and useful intents, an ostracism."
The notion that the people of the United States ought to conceive of senators as some kind of elected aristocracy struck most readers as odd. The belief that empowering such creatures by electing them into the Senate was a means of limiting their influence struck most readers as bizarre. Nevertheless, there is was in the Defence, not just an incidental point made in passing, but one of Adams's major preoccupations. In every society known to man, he assured his readers, "an aristocracy has risen up in a course of time, consisting of a few rich and honorable families, who have united with each other against both the people and the first magistrate." Best to put these talented but troublesome creatures in one place, the Senate, and watch them carefully. He seemed to be saying that the Senate was simultaneously a podium for the natural aristocrats and a prison.

I highly recommend this book!

The book recounts the post-presidential life of John Adams. But since he spent most of that time explaining and arguing about his roles in the revolution, founding, and executing the early government it is almost a biography with the emphasis on his understanding of his place in history. Ellis calls him "the last republican", as opposed to the new "democrats", with the question of who is meant to govern the nation at the crux. As Adams said to Jefferson "we cannot Die until we have Explained ourselves to each other". The explanation continues and is timely.