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7 reviews for:
The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams
4.19 AVERAGE
7 reviews for:
The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams
4.19 AVERAGE
This was a bit of a labor for me, but one I came to love in the end.
Like I'm sure many people lately, I came to this book via the John Adams 2008 documentary with Paul Giamatti. I wasn't sure if I would read it straight through, or flip through and only read what caught my eye. I suspected the earlier letters would be comparatively boring, that the good stuff would come after they'd retired, and were free to muse and philosophize about government.
As it turned out, I read it straight through. The earlier letters were in fact very interesting, both as a peek into the details of the American revolution, and into the details of life in the late 1700's. (That one time when Adams, while ambassador to England, bought some 500 bottles of wine in France, and tried to ship them to London, only to be charged some crazy duty per bottle, and he tried to get Jefferson to grab them, and sell them off...)
The post-retirement letters were good, though I got bored during Adams' comparative religion phase. He remained a kind of Christian all his life, but he enjoyed examining his faith, which is great - but in an era before modern cosmology, astronomy, psychology, and biology, his investigations into the origin and nature of the universe, the soul, and life, all through comparative religion, wore me out.
The inclusion of Abigail Adams' letters was just wonderful. She was fiery, and unrestrained in a way that the gentlemen never were. My only regret was that she didn't write more. John Adams' voice (ok, probably Paul Giamatti's) comes through all of his letters, via excessive capitalization and reiteration. He must've been an energetic orator. But he seems to always be aware of his own fiery excitement, slightly ridiculous and endearing.
(And holy crap, they die at the end!? Did not see that coming.)
Like I'm sure many people lately, I came to this book via the John Adams 2008 documentary with Paul Giamatti. I wasn't sure if I would read it straight through, or flip through and only read what caught my eye. I suspected the earlier letters would be comparatively boring, that the good stuff would come after they'd retired, and were free to muse and philosophize about government.
As it turned out, I read it straight through. The earlier letters were in fact very interesting, both as a peek into the details of the American revolution, and into the details of life in the late 1700's. (That one time when Adams, while ambassador to England, bought some 500 bottles of wine in France, and tried to ship them to London, only to be charged some crazy duty per bottle, and he tried to get Jefferson to grab them, and sell them off...)
The post-retirement letters were good, though I got bored during Adams' comparative religion phase. He remained a kind of Christian all his life, but he enjoyed examining his faith, which is great - but in an era before modern cosmology, astronomy, psychology, and biology, his investigations into the origin and nature of the universe, the soul, and life, all through comparative religion, wore me out.
The inclusion of Abigail Adams' letters was just wonderful. She was fiery, and unrestrained in a way that the gentlemen never were. My only regret was that she didn't write more. John Adams' voice (ok, probably Paul Giamatti's) comes through all of his letters, via excessive capitalization and reiteration. He must've been an energetic orator. But he seems to always be aware of his own fiery excitement, slightly ridiculous and endearing.
(And holy crap, they die at the end!? Did not see that coming.)
Because I seriously need more Adams books.... *grins*
This is an amazing book thusfar.
This is an amazing book thusfar.
I once spent a week snowed in the house in Plymouth, unable to leave, during which I read this complete correspondence. Few weeks have been so instructive as to the nature of some of our founders.
Incredible insight into early American thinking. Genuinely loved reading this.
One of many books I've stolen from my dad's bookshelf. I ADORE Jefferson and Adams' letters to one another (although the Adams' letters to each other are wonderful to read also). The parallel of Jefferson and Adams' stories, their correspondence repairing their relationship at the end of their lives, the synchronicity of their deaths... pretty amazing stuff. (Such a dork.)
Fascinating, in-depth, and compelling. Loads and loads of correspondence between two of the most important of the founding fathers. Their letters in the 18th century are interesting but sort of practical and perfunctory, and then their estrangement after their vitriolic presidential campaigns concluding with the heart of their correspondence after their reconciliation which covers the most rich and intellectually stimulating letters. Their more philosophical stuff towards the end is decidedly the most important (esp. right now), but the reconciliation is also extremely interesting showing the almost tragicomic process of a friendship deteriorating, and the herculean effort required to patch things up. All in all very worth while read.
This was my "big read" for 2014 - I read a letter or two every day starting in January and here I am, done a month ahead of schedule. The letters between these two men make for an amazing read, especially after they retire from the public eye. Other reviews will do a better job explaining the context and times of the correspondence, so let me leave you with part of Jefferson's condolence letter to John Adams upon the death of his wife Abigail:
I will not, therefore, by useless condolences, open afresh the sluices of your grief, nor, although mingling sincerely my tears with yours, will I say a word more where words are vain, but that it is of some comfort to us both, that the term is not very distant, at which we are to deposit in the same cerement our sorrows and suffering bodies, and to ascend in essence to an ecstatic meeting with the friends we have loved and lost, and whom we shall still love, and never lose again.