| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 90.1

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 90.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

John Adams. By David McCullough. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. 751 pp. $35.00, ISBN 0-684-81363-7.)

David McCullough's study of John Adams displays the qualities of fine historical biography: empathetic understanding of a complex and interesting individual, depiction of a life intimately involved with important historical events, well-informed research, and graceful writing. Reviewers have properly celebrated McCullough's achievement in establishing Adams's place among the nation's principal founders.

Though sensitive to Adams's foibles and not uncritical of his failings, McCullough's portrayal is basically celebratory, a not uncommon characteristic of biography. Perhaps as a consequence of his heavy reliance on the Adams family papers, McCullough reads the complex events and personalities of late-eighteenth-century America largely through Adams's eyes. In the process, he loses critical perspective on a number of key issues on Adams's engagement with his times.

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