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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
24 discs was a lot of John Adams, but I never got bored with it. Really enjoyed it, gave a great story of his life, and tons of context, I probably now understand that era of time at least 10 times more than before.
This book is a monster, and I am not usually all that excited or interested in very much history, especially politics. But this was a great book, and so interesting to go into the life of a founding father of our country. John Adams was a great man of virtue, and I enjoyed getting to know that time in our country a little bit better. It took me forever, however, to get through it. I don't think it had anything to do with the way it was written but that I'm just not a history buff. It definitely wasn't my favorite read, and I didn't get super excited about it. But I enjoyed many parts of it, and would recommend it to someone who loves history. It's very well written and includes tons of excerpts from Adams' letters and journals.
This is a fascinating biography. It both educates and entertains. I particularly enjoyed how McCullough would take time to go over other key people in Adams’ life and give a summation of that person at the different points they entered or reentered his life. We get a minibiography of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Dr. Benjamin Rush, and more. Perhaps the most prominent person of all in this mix was Abigail Adams. She drops bombs all throughout the biography.
“You cannot be, I know, nor do I wish to see you, an inactive spectator…. We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them. ~Abigail Adams”And of course the book takes on a natural narrative with a climatic build to Adams and Jefferson both passing on July 4th, 1826. The story at that point writes itself as you get a back-and-forth update of the two men until the celebrations of Independence Day that year and the subsequent mourning of their deaths. Simply brilliant.
A lot of the founding fathers were smart men. John Adams was smart but also deeply good. Not perfect, but good. He strived his whole life to be kind and to be humble. The type of man I hope my son will be someday.
I liked his response to Mary Wollstonecraft’s French Revolution. She claimed the government must be simple and he wrote in the margins “The clock would be simple if you destroyed all the wheels…but it would not tell the time of day.”
I liked his response to Mary Wollstonecraft’s French Revolution. She claimed the government must be simple and he wrote in the margins “The clock would be simple if you destroyed all the wheels…but it would not tell the time of day.”
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
I’ve had this book on my list to eons. Im so happy I finally read it. I really appreciated the the love and partnership Adams and Abigail had. And the epic relationship with Jefferson….and the mythology around their last day…why did it get to me‽
informative
slow-paced
Got me on to Cicero, so it’s the gift that keeps giving.
Very interesting, learned a ton more about life and politics during the birth of America than I did from any "official" history text book! Reads like a novel.