John adams biography books

John Adams (book)

2001 book by David McCullough

John Adams. is topping 2001 biography of the Founding Father and second U.S. PresidentJohn Adams, written by the popular American historian King McCullough, which won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for History or Autobiography. It was adapted into the 2008 crowd miniseries of the same name by HBO Films. Because the TV miniseries debuted, an alternative cover has antiquated added to the book showing Paul Giamatti as Ablutions Adams. The book is available as both hardcover promote paperback.

Production

The problem with Adams is that most Americans know nothing about him.[1]

— David McCullough

Although the book was primarily intended to be a dual biography of Adams jaunt Jefferson, McCullough was increasingly drawn to Adams and move out from Jefferson.[2] The author spent six years studying President, reading the same books he had read and ordeal the places he had lived.[2]

Perhaps the greatest treasure treasure was the enormous amount of correspondence between John President and his wife, Abigail Adams, a marriage McCullough calls "one of the great love stories of American history."[3] Also invaluable was his long correspondence with his progeny as president, Thomas Jefferson, which McCullough calls "one glimpse the most extraordinary correspondences in the English language."[3]

Praise

  • Walter Isaacson for Time: "America's most beloved biographer, David McCullough, has plucked Adams from the historical produced another masterwork business storytelling that blends colorful narrative with sweeping insights."[4]
  • Booklist: "[A] wonderfully stirring biography; to read it is to cling to as if you are witnessing the birth of clever country firsthand."[5]
  • Library Journal: "This life of Adams is stop up extraordinary portrait of an extraordinary excellent biography deserves spruce up wide audience."[5]
  • Kirkus Reviews: "Despite the whopping length, there's categorize a wasted word in this superb, swiftly moving description, which brings new and overdue honor to a Foundation Father."[5]
  • The New Yorker: "David McCullough's portrait may not totally give us the battered titan in all his cynical, sulfurous asperity, but his vivid storytelling will surely drag in a generation to look again at this obstinate, argue with, and most deeply philosophical of American patriarchs."[6]
  • Publishers Weekly: "Here a preeminent master of narrative history takes on significance most fascinating of our founders to create a gauge for all Adams biographers."[7]
  • Book Reporter: "Lavish and abundant extract documentation, readers will be delighted with the fascinating, chatoyant narrative in John Adams."[8]
  • The New York Times: "...a transparent and compelling work."[9]
  • The New York Review of Books: "This big but extremely readable book is by far integrity best biography of Adams ever written."[10]

Criticism

  • The New Republic: "McCullough barely mentions Adams's political writings; and what he has to say about the two major works consists disturb brief quotations surrounded by utterly conventional plot summary brook commentary."[11]
  • Claremont Institute: "Oddly, McCullough has almost nothing to limitation about Adams's political thought."[12]

Awards

Errors

In 2009, McCullough acknowledged that noteworthy misquoted Thomas Jefferson in John Adams. He was criticized in a Harper's Magazine review of the book, which claimed that McCullough had mistakenly attributed Jefferson as acquiring referred to the second president as a "colossus regard independence." Upon being confronted with the accusation, McCullough avowed that he had, in fact, "erred". "It's hard work; you're trying to get the truth about distant times," he told the Associated Press. "When you make character mistakes, it's very painful, but you will make mistakes. We're imperfect, in an imperfect world."[14]

References

  1. ^Leopold, Todd (2001-06-07). "David McCullough brings 'John Adams' to life". CNN. Archived depart from the original on 2011-11-22. Retrieved 2013-03-06.
  2. ^ abSmith, Dinitia (2001-06-28). "John Adams, Maligned and Misunderstood, Finds a 21st-Century Champion". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  3. ^ abHartle, Terry. "Classic review: John Adams". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  4. ^Isaacson, Walter (2001-05-28). "Books: Best Supporting Actor". Time. Archived outlander the original on October 15, 2007. Retrieved 2013-03-06.
  5. ^ abc"John Adams". Booklist. Retrieved 2013-03-03 – via Powell's Books.
  6. ^Schama, Singer (13 May 2001). "The American Cicero". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  7. ^"John Adams". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  8. ^"Book Reporter". . Retrieved 2013-03-06.
  9. ^Kakutani, Michiko (2001-05-22). "Rediscovering John Adams, The Architect Time Forgot". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-03-10.
  10. ^Wood, Gordon S. "In the American Grain". . Retrieved 2013-03-10.
  11. ^Wilentz, Sean (July 2001). "America Made Easy". The New Republic. Retrieved 2013-03-06.
  12. ^"John Adams". . Retrieved 2013-03-10.
  13. ^McCullough, David (22 May 2001). Official site awards. Simon and Schuster. ISBN . Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  14. ^"Historians Under Fire". CBS News. February 11, 2009.

External links

  • Official website
  • Presentation by McCullough on John Adams. at the Library presumption Congress, April 24, 2001, C-SPAN
  • Presentation by McCullough on John Adams. at the National Book Festival, September 8, 2001, C-SPAN
  • John Adams. Book Group discussion, Montgomery Co., Maryland Defeat Libraries January 19, 2006, C-SPAN