Review of David McCullough's John Adams
January 30, 2023
David McCullough's John Adams, from which the HBO mini series was derived, was a pleasant read from start to finish. You had absolutely no doubt in your mind that Adams proved to be McCullough's favorite president, but that was no problem as you weaved through the book.
Before reading this book, I did not really know much about Adams aside from what I had to teach in my high school U.S. history class, but this book highlighted for me the important role that Adams played during the Revolutionary War and the Early Republic period. Though I knew Adams was in charge of war preparation and was a member of the Continental Congress, which ultimately signed the Declaration of Independence, his role in securing peace with Great Britain, locking down loans from the Netherlands, and serving as the first U.S. ambassador to Great Britain are not necessarily included in the curriculum of a U.S. history class these days. McCullough did a masterful job lifting up Adams' efforts in a way that showed how much he sacrificed to serve his country.
Speaking of sacrifice, McCullough makes no mistake about those made by Adams' wife Abigail and his children. The sheer volume of correspondence available to us is astounding; there are about 1,100 letters between John and Abigail that have survived through the ages (there is also a compendium of these letters if you're so inclined here). Abigail was shown to be the grounding force for John, especially once he became president. Just as Ellis showed Washington as the reluctant hero, so too did McCullough show Adams as the reluctant politician. McCullough frequently quotes Adams' letters to Abigail in which he pined for a return to his farm and to spend all of his remaining time with Abigail and his family.
Another area that is explored is the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Adams. The relationship flourished while the two served as diplomats in Europe but soured once Adams was president. McCullough takes great care to highlight their correspondence between each other, and the correspondence they each have with others about each other. This creates the impression that though they had great respect for each other, external factors got in the way of their relationship in a way that they perhaps regretted.
All in all, this book was a joy to read, and though it took me a few weeks in between everything else going on, I was sad to wrap it up. If there is to be one con about the book, there was an exhaustive amount of primary source material that ultimately did not add or take away from the story, but merely took up space on the page. McCullough wanted the letters to tell the story, which is nice, but there were too many times when he would explain what the letter said so as to eliminate the need to read it yourself. This is not a problem, per se, and perhaps I'm being picky since I have 43 more book to read.
Rating: 4.5 / 5