Comments on: John Adams, David McCullough

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:14:45 +0000

Hmm now that I think about it, I don’t know much about Adams…. I should prob check this book out, since you rec it so highly

By: Meghan

Meghan — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:51:31 +0000

It is probably a little idealistic, but I do think that McCullough presented a lot of the bad with the good. I haven’t read much about American history since high school, but he does make a compelling case that agrees with my memory – Adams does tend to get the short end of the stick, and while he had his problems, he also had his triumphs. I’m also used to early American history presented in that idealistic tone, and it was nice that he brought them down to real-people status. Overall, for history that is marketed to the masses, of which I don’t tend to expect that much even when it wins awards, I was really impressed, as you can tell.

By: Trish

Trish — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:42:59 +0000

I’ve heard such great things about this book–but I’ve also heard it is a little idealistic (a book I had to read for grad school called Revolution and the Word talked a bit about the portrayal of Adams in McCullough’s biography). I think I’ll have to check this one out–I read His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph Ellis last year, so this would be a great follow up.