An excellent biography of John Adams, the Founding Father and second president of the US.

Highly recommended.

I finished it! This book took me a while to read, but it's well worth it! McCullough gives such a personal view into who John and Abigail, actually the whole Adams family, really were. And they were truly wonderful, honest, patriots, full of integrity, and not afraid of hard work for their country. John and his wife Abagail wrote over a thousand letters to each other and these and countless more to other family and friends, including Jefferson who became a friend while they were both working in France during the revolutionary war. The friendship between the Adams and Jefferson is remarkably documented. Jefferson was much more reserved and his character may not have been as pure as history remembers him....although I have always wondered how a slave owner could really have written ..all men are created equal. He didnt really believe that, and appears to have been a misogynist as well. While John and Abigail had some very prophetic views of what slavery was going to eventually do to the nation. The relationship between John and Abagail was so close. They were truly best friends in love. We are lucky this family saved all their letters, and wrote so candidly! because it gives us an insightfull and accurate look into the people of the time.

I recommend this book to anyone whos interested in what the founding fathers were really like, or the events of the revolution.

I began reading John Adams four years ago, if you can believe it. Somewhere along the way I set it down and failed to pick it up again until a few weeks ago. I was a fan of David McCullough before I read John Adams, but it has certainly deepened my respect for this incredibly gifted historian. I think it’s rare for a biographer to leave you with the feeling that you don’t just know about the subject, but that you actually know the subject on a personal level. And that is exactly what McCullough accomplished with this portrait of one of the most remarkable and heretofore overlooked founding fathers in our nation’s history. — Kate Scott



from The Best Books We Read In November: http://bookriot.com/2015/11/30/riot-r...

This book means a lot to me. It is the first book I ever read on the founding fathers. It's also the best.

And the competition is steep!

McCullough shows how Adams was brilliant, vain, principled, and devoted to his young country.

McCullough uses many primary sources to tell this story. The best: the wonderful, vivid, brilliant correspondence between John and his wife Abigail Adams. The correspondence is great world history and also reveals the close and intimate thoughts and aspirations of both John and Abigail.

McCullough tells about Adams's political ascension from a small town lawyer to founding father and second president. Adams was essential in the Continental Congress and in selecting George Washington to lead the Army. His diplomatic missions to France and Holland were as entertaining as they were crucial to the revolution's success.

Adams was a hero. But he was flawed, too. He supported the Alien and Sedition Acts. He was often rude and ornery. He was obbessed with Thomas Jefferson to such an extent that it clouded his judgment. McCullough brings out all these complexities with extraordinary insight and beautiful prose.

Perhaps the best part of the book covers Adams's later years, including his friendship with Jefferson and their letters. Incredibly, both men died on July 4, 1826.

If you had to read only one book about America's founding, this is that book. It's that good.

David McCullough’s JOHN ADAMS paints a vivid portrait of Adams the patriot and Adams the man. Well-written and engaging, it relies in large part on Adams’s voluminous correspondence – with his wife Abigail and with friends and public figures. At times I thought the picture was a bit one-sided. Despite making some mistakes and being decidedly irascible, Adams is depicted as the true patriot, who doggedly pursued his beliefs against all odds to do what was best for the country. His selflessness, humility and New England thrift are presented as a marked contrast to many of his contemporaries, most notably Thomas Jefferson, who also takes a beating for being a political intriguer, even though he and Adams were reconciled near the end of their lives. I do not know the period well, however, so I am provisionally willing to accept McCullough’s portrayal. Perhaps biographies of Washington, Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton (who is portrayed in the book as a brilliant but insane scumbag) would tell a different story. I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in early American history or presidential biography.

John Adams is an extraordinary book, and an excellent political history of the beginning of the United States. This is the first book I've read by  David McCullough, and I'm impressed at his ability to be respectful but blunt, and be serious but entertaining at the same time.

John Adams was an unusual man -- though he had the ambition and vanity characteristic of all politicians, he was a remarkably uncomplicated and generally happy family man. The impression one gets from this book is much like a hobbit -- a sincere, courageous fat little man, who was thrown into circumstances far beyond his expectations and rose to each occasion with incredible tenacity, determination, and eventual success, but who vastly preferred being at home on his farm, mending walls, resting with his wife, and playing with his children and grandchildren.

Adams was one of the most influential figures in the American Revolution, taking roles in the Continental Congress, choosing Washington as General of the Revolutionary Army, writing the constitution of Massachusetts, largely forming and approving the text of the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence, acting as ambassador to England, France, and the Netherlands, being elected Vice President, and eventually becoming the second US President, and father of the sixth. McCullough examines his life through his copious letters, articles, and books, with attention to both his external accomplishments, and his personal life. His joy and enthusiasm in life are impressive to read about -- over his lifetime, he lost a child in infancy, two of his sons grew up to be alcoholics, his only surviving daughter died of cancer in her 40s, he lost several grandchildren in infancy, and eventually lost his beloved wife. Despite this, and despite the public scorn heaped on him for every decision he made as President (yes, they did that back then, too), he managed to build a satisfying life for himself, and take joy in what he did have.

One of the most striking aspects of the book for me was how early partisan politics grew venomous and nasty. The country was already split irreconcilably into two parties by Washington's second term, and the race for president after him (between close friends Adams and Jefferson) grew so vicious that the friendship between the men was lost for 11 years. And while modern readers will side with Adams against slavery, and Jefferson against the Alien and Sedition acts, the degree of hatred and hysteria on each side was truly amazing, though Adams managed to stay above it as much as possible. Modern politics are always very different when viewed in the light of history.

This is an excellent historical and personal read, and I recommend it to anyone.

The American War of Independence was something that I knew very little about so I feel much better informed after reading this. I can even name the first 6 presidents now. Fascinating and very readable book helped in its readability by the extensive correspondence between John Adams and his wife that the author drew on.
Ending giving the date when he died and who else died the same day was pretty amazing too - that's another very useful fact that I won't forget (don't look it up as it makes a great ending to the book).
This is the third book that I've read by this author and I've enjoyed them all so will be seeking out the others. Truman is still my favourite but this one is a close second.

John Adams is a well researched and beautifully written biography about the life and times of John Adams and early American history. David McCullough uses letters and diary entries to paint a vivid picture and transport the reader back in time some 200 years.

Don’t let the length of this book deprive you of the joy of reading it. If you love biographies and American history you will want to read this.

We are so used to driving ambition with candidates/characters who would do anything short of knifing a competitor in the back to achieve the office, that a man like John Adams, a public servant who felt the need to do his best and put aside his own preferences for the sake of the public good provides a refreshing read.

The time and place in which he lived made it possible for a farmer to speak out and be chosen by his community to represent it, moving on to higher office purely on ability rather than political connivance before funding became the number one issue it is today.

A family man, a lover of the land he farmed, Adams was a gifted speaker and writer when those qualities were prized. He was nothing if not principled, driven to place reason above passion. Though he was passionate, he kept it in the family, particularly in his relationship with his beloved wife and full partner in every aspect of life, Abigail, whose support was absolutely necessary to his success.

Thomas Jefferson provides a contrast to Adams that the author continually brings forth. Jefferson the spendthrift, master of political intrigue, aesthete, one who could produce prose the equal of any, but whose own life departed from the sage advice he recommended for others.

Since I have an abiding interest in the injustice the United States supports in Israel, I found it remarkable that both Adams and Jefferson believed that an end to slavery would bring brutal retaliation from liberated slaves, in precisely the same way that modern Israelis claim the people they subjugate, the Palestinians, have only one thought in mind, to kill Israeli Jews, so must be kept oppressed and without rights. This provides a convenient justification for the continuation of injustice! For all their thoughts on democracy, liberty and justice, both Jefferson (a slave owner) and Adams were unwilling to touch the issue of slavery.

With the government new, a small group of men provided the pool from which to draw leaders and Adams moved through several positions, posted to France and then England to represent the United States before being elected vice-president and then president after Washington.

Upon retirement from the presidency with a great sense of relief, he spent many enjoyable years on his farm with his family before dying in his 80's.

With Adams as the core, this book traces his wide network of friends, enemies and associates to give the reader a good understanding of the issues of the time in which the United States became independent, fought two wars with Britain, and followed a delicate course with a belligerent revolutionary France.

McCullough gives us an outstanding example of character in action, of a man who had plenty of self-doubt but that held a steady course for the common good, regardless of popularity.

I love this book, the author, and the subjects John Adams and his wife Abigail. It might have benefited from a little editing for greater brevity but otherwise a perfect book. My favorite parts were all the beautiful quotes about morality from Adam's personal journals.

I enjoyed this. I learned a lot and appreciate being able to read letters of people who lived then. And. This could have been 200 pages shorter. There was a lot of duplication especially when talking about John and Abigail’s love for one another.

The quote I deem encapsulates this book is “I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study paintings, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.”- John Adams