Finished that Pulitzer prize-winning biography of John Adams and was that ever a good read. Hands down, best biography I've ever read.
Why was it so good? Well for starters, McCullough has a gift for writing. He majored in English, not history, at Yale, and sort of fell into writing about past events by accident.
For another thing, he was dealing with wonderful material. John and Abigail Adams wrote lots of interesting, descriptive, thoughtful letters and McCullough quoted from them a lot. McCullough makes the point that Adams "wrote the way he spoke"--something not always true of letter writers in that day. Letters by Jefferson and, especially, Washington, in the book seem stilted by comparison. In any case John and Abigal had come so alive to me that by the book's end, well, I cried.
As mentioned before, Adams and Jefferson--the two most important characters behind the writing and passage of the Declaration of Independence--died the same day, July 4, 1816. It was 50 years to the day from the signing of the Declaration. (Actually it seems the signing took place a day or two before.).
While Adams lay dying, there came a terrific thunder storm followed by the sound of cannons in Boston in celebration of the 4th. It was then that Adams died amd immediately afterward (according to a grandson) came a tremendous single clap of thunder--followed by a break in the clouds with heavenly sunshine streaking through.
As a Christian I noted with interest evidence of the role faith played for Adams. McCullough doesn't belabor the subject unduly, but it was clear Adams was sincere in his beliefs. While he had a tendency towards vanity and a bad temper, he understood and hated his faults and strove to change. The motto for the last part of his life, he said, was "Rejoice evermore." He had many awful losses (a son drank himself to death; a daughter died of breast cancer; grandchildren died; Abigal preceded him in death) but managed to grieve, move on, love life, and continue to try to please God and work for the greater good.
Americans like Daniel Webster at the time pointed to the coincidence of the deaths as a sign of God's favor on the nation. Possibly: stranger things have happened. In any case, whether you like the United States or not, its existence certainly has influenced numerous other countries in their struggles for freedom and self-government. For starters.
Why was it so good? Well for starters, McCullough has a gift for writing. He majored in English, not history, at Yale, and sort of fell into writing about past events by accident.
For another thing, he was dealing with wonderful material. John and Abigail Adams wrote lots of interesting, descriptive, thoughtful letters and McCullough quoted from them a lot. McCullough makes the point that Adams "wrote the way he spoke"--something not always true of letter writers in that day. Letters by Jefferson and, especially, Washington, in the book seem stilted by comparison. In any case John and Abigal had come so alive to me that by the book's end, well, I cried.
As mentioned before, Adams and Jefferson--the two most important characters behind the writing and passage of the Declaration of Independence--died the same day, July 4, 1816. It was 50 years to the day from the signing of the Declaration. (Actually it seems the signing took place a day or two before.).
While Adams lay dying, there came a terrific thunder storm followed by the sound of cannons in Boston in celebration of the 4th. It was then that Adams died amd immediately afterward (according to a grandson) came a tremendous single clap of thunder--followed by a break in the clouds with heavenly sunshine streaking through.
As a Christian I noted with interest evidence of the role faith played for Adams. McCullough doesn't belabor the subject unduly, but it was clear Adams was sincere in his beliefs. While he had a tendency towards vanity and a bad temper, he understood and hated his faults and strove to change. The motto for the last part of his life, he said, was "Rejoice evermore." He had many awful losses (a son drank himself to death; a daughter died of breast cancer; grandchildren died; Abigal preceded him in death) but managed to grieve, move on, love life, and continue to try to please God and work for the greater good.
Americans like Daniel Webster at the time pointed to the coincidence of the deaths as a sign of God's favor on the nation. Possibly: stranger things have happened. In any case, whether you like the United States or not, its existence certainly has influenced numerous other countries in their struggles for freedom and self-government. For starters.
posted by Ted | 6:52 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home