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A review by hcampbell28
First Family: Abigail and John Adams by Joseph J. Ellis
4.0
If you are interested in the relationship between John and Abigail Adams this would be a great place to start. While the book does focus on the political atmosphere surrounding the Adams’ it always comes back to the family. Ellis uses many, many excerpts from John and Abigail’s letters to illustrate for us in vivid details their undying devotion to their family and to each other. We get to see how politically savvy Abigail was and how much of an advisor she was for John through her own words. These letters provided great insight into their lives from their own mouths without the need for interpretation.
This book definitely has a pro-Adams slant when it comes to looking at his presidency. Now he is often looked at as a somewhat ineffective president even though he had played a large role in the forming of the fledgling country. In his book, Ellis chooses to look at the Adams presidency from the perspective of the time in which he was living rather than from the present. This leaves the reader with a more positive viewpoint.
A great amount of time was spent on the intricacies of the Adams/Jefferson relationship. The author seems to portray Jefferson in more of a negative light than Adams. He even goes as far as discussing how Jefferson may have committed treasonous acts while Vice President. As I haven’t yet read his book on Jefferson I don’t know if this is a constant bias of if just in the situation of comparing the two men.
The one negative for me while reading this book was that the author seemed to beat the proverbial dead horse on the point of John and Abigail knowing that their letters and writings would be read by posterity and that they were posturing for history in their letters. This concept came up innumerable times – after the first two times I got it.
As I said before, this would be a great book for those who are looking for more on the relationship of the Adams family and to a lesser extent the politics. I plan on reading another book on John Adams to get more of the political, but I would certainly read more by this author.
I don’t really have a lot to say about the narration here. It was well read but doesn't stand out remarkably in my head even a few days after completing the book. It might be better off to read this one in physical book form.
This book definitely has a pro-Adams slant when it comes to looking at his presidency. Now he is often looked at as a somewhat ineffective president even though he had played a large role in the forming of the fledgling country. In his book, Ellis chooses to look at the Adams presidency from the perspective of the time in which he was living rather than from the present. This leaves the reader with a more positive viewpoint.
A great amount of time was spent on the intricacies of the Adams/Jefferson relationship. The author seems to portray Jefferson in more of a negative light than Adams. He even goes as far as discussing how Jefferson may have committed treasonous acts while Vice President. As I haven’t yet read his book on Jefferson I don’t know if this is a constant bias of if just in the situation of comparing the two men.
The one negative for me while reading this book was that the author seemed to beat the proverbial dead horse on the point of John and Abigail knowing that their letters and writings would be read by posterity and that they were posturing for history in their letters. This concept came up innumerable times – after the first two times I got it.
As I said before, this would be a great book for those who are looking for more on the relationship of the Adams family and to a lesser extent the politics. I plan on reading another book on John Adams to get more of the political, but I would certainly read more by this author.
I don’t really have a lot to say about the narration here. It was well read but doesn't stand out remarkably in my head even a few days after completing the book. It might be better off to read this one in physical book form.