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lindzlovesreading 's review for:
John Adams
by David McCullough
Closing this biography after the final page was a little sad. It was saying good bye to a friend whom I was speaking on good terms with every day for the past four weeks. Through David McCullough I got to know John Adams very very well.
For some reason I feel the need to state I am not American. I come from a country (New Zealand) that has a very different colonial history and experience. I went into this biography not knowing much about the American Revolution and the history that surrounds it. If It wasn't for catching a glimpse of the HBO mini series 'John Adams' I would have never picked up McCullough's biography.
'John Adams' is not the perfect introduction into the Declaration of Independence, and its following war, and birth of the United States of America. But McCullough does take you back to the later half of the 18th Century, and vividly, with all its colours and characters. You can almost feel the freezing snow of a Massachusetts winter, the fiery stench of a disease ridden Philadelphia summer. You can hear the extravagance of France ringing like bells, the bustling and swelling streets of Amsterdam, even the coolness and decorum of England. It was a very broad landscape.
McCullough, it is safe to say has a bit of boy crush on Adams. I have this image of McCullough like an excited fan boy running around the 'Adams' papers, all hopping and gleeful, much like a Trecky meeting Leonard Nimoy. McCullough has no pretensions of snobby and high minded objectivity, he admires John Adams in everything he did as well as the other Founding Fathers (especially Thomas Jefferson who at times threatens to over take the bio with his quiet force of personality). Though he tries to defend Adams where ever he can, he still lets his character shine through. This was a man who spoke his mind, no matter what (not a healthy trait in a political/diplomat), he was stubborn and also thought he was right, even when he was wrong. A loveable fanatic.
But I can't get through this review without speaking of Abigail Adams, John's wife. Who was a creature all of her own creation. Independent minded, strong, stoic, and patient, Abigail Adams was John Adam's soul mate in every way shape and form. I could hear her voice loud and clear throughout the biography, she was many ways was John's compass, no matter how far he travelled he would always go home to her.
David McCullough's work has peaked my interest in American Colonial history, something I thought impossible.
For some reason I feel the need to state I am not American. I come from a country (New Zealand) that has a very different colonial history and experience. I went into this biography not knowing much about the American Revolution and the history that surrounds it. If It wasn't for catching a glimpse of the HBO mini series 'John Adams' I would have never picked up McCullough's biography.
'John Adams' is not the perfect introduction into the Declaration of Independence, and its following war, and birth of the United States of America. But McCullough does take you back to the later half of the 18th Century, and vividly, with all its colours and characters. You can almost feel the freezing snow of a Massachusetts winter, the fiery stench of a disease ridden Philadelphia summer. You can hear the extravagance of France ringing like bells, the bustling and swelling streets of Amsterdam, even the coolness and decorum of England. It was a very broad landscape.
McCullough, it is safe to say has a bit of boy crush on Adams. I have this image of McCullough like an excited fan boy running around the 'Adams' papers, all hopping and gleeful, much like a Trecky meeting Leonard Nimoy. McCullough has no pretensions of snobby and high minded objectivity, he admires John Adams in everything he did as well as the other Founding Fathers (especially Thomas Jefferson who at times threatens to over take the bio with his quiet force of personality). Though he tries to defend Adams where ever he can, he still lets his character shine through. This was a man who spoke his mind, no matter what (not a healthy trait in a political/diplomat), he was stubborn and also thought he was right, even when he was wrong. A loveable fanatic.
But I can't get through this review without speaking of Abigail Adams, John's wife. Who was a creature all of her own creation. Independent minded, strong, stoic, and patient, Abigail Adams was John Adam's soul mate in every way shape and form. I could hear her voice loud and clear throughout the biography, she was many ways was John's compass, no matter how far he travelled he would always go home to her.
David McCullough's work has peaked my interest in American Colonial history, something I thought impossible.