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authorcagray 's review for:
The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
by Stacy Schiff
My husband was reading this one as we passed through Boston on a way to another trip, and was so enamored of it that he told me I had to read it too. I'd fortunately started it by the time we made it to Boston, so I was able to appreciate some of the historically relevant sites more than I otherwise might.
Adams is one of those founding fathers nobody really thinks of, except in reference to the beer. But it turns out (at least according to Schiff), this was by his own design. He was mediocre for the majority of his life, and if he'd lived in a different time, perhaps always would have remained so--but he was born "for such a time as this." I had no idea that Samuel Adams, cousin of John, was almost the primary driving force behind the scenes. He fomenting anger against the British by his myriad of pen names under which he published essays far and wide (and I did take issue with the way in which he spun current events to suit his purposes--if it wasn't outright disinformation, it was at least cherry-picking). He was the one who made back room deals to get all the power players on board, to come together under a common purpose. He and John Hancock were for a time considered the most dangerous revolutionaries of all. But he left behind so few records of his involvement that he was almost lost to history, once the revolution was won.
Very compellingly written!
Adams is one of those founding fathers nobody really thinks of, except in reference to the beer. But it turns out (at least according to Schiff), this was by his own design. He was mediocre for the majority of his life, and if he'd lived in a different time, perhaps always would have remained so--but he was born "for such a time as this." I had no idea that Samuel Adams, cousin of John, was almost the primary driving force behind the scenes. He fomenting anger against the British by his myriad of pen names under which he published essays far and wide (and I did take issue with the way in which he spun current events to suit his purposes--if it wasn't outright disinformation, it was at least cherry-picking). He was the one who made back room deals to get all the power players on board, to come together under a common purpose. He and John Hancock were for a time considered the most dangerous revolutionaries of all. But he left behind so few records of his involvement that he was almost lost to history, once the revolution was won.
Very compellingly written!