Sunday, June 06, 2004
John Adams: A Life
by John Ferling
For the biography of the second president I chose a book with the same publisher but a different author. The tome was a great read and a great companion piece to George Washington: A Life. Whereas Washington was from Virginia and was involved in the military actions of the Revolutionary War, John Adams hailed from Massachusetts and spent the war years serving first in Congress and then as a diplomat. I found Adams to be a very interesting and influential man. In one sense, I could see a bit of myself in him. Adams had quite an ego and had a tendency to neglect his wife and kids for his career. Also his accomplishments never quite matched his ambitions. Where the similarity ends is that my wife has never let me get away with such neglect and Mr. Adams ended up being a very influential and accomplished man. (Though his achievements lacked the prestige of those attained by General Washington.) Mr. Ferling did a very good job of presenting Adams' life, as well as taking the time to give capsule biographies of those involved in his life. You not only get a biography of John Adams, but also a peek into his generation. Another book to get on my shelf, should I seek to increase my collection of history books.
LibraryThing link
For the biography of the second president I chose a book with the same publisher but a different author. The tome was a great read and a great companion piece to George Washington: A Life. Whereas Washington was from Virginia and was involved in the military actions of the Revolutionary War, John Adams hailed from Massachusetts and spent the war years serving first in Congress and then as a diplomat. I found Adams to be a very interesting and influential man. In one sense, I could see a bit of myself in him. Adams had quite an ego and had a tendency to neglect his wife and kids for his career. Also his accomplishments never quite matched his ambitions. Where the similarity ends is that my wife has never let me get away with such neglect and Mr. Adams ended up being a very influential and accomplished man. (Though his achievements lacked the prestige of those attained by General Washington.) Mr. Ferling did a very good job of presenting Adams' life, as well as taking the time to give capsule biographies of those involved in his life. You not only get a biography of John Adams, but also a peek into his generation. Another book to get on my shelf, should I seek to increase my collection of history books.
LibraryThing link
Labels: OnMyShelf, PresidentialBioReadingList
// posted by John @ 10:45 PM 
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