John Adams: Party of One

Written with clarity and grace, supported by thorough research, and characterized throughout by scholarly care and respect for both primary and secondary sources, this is the large biography of John Adams to read. It is half the length of David McCullough's tome, but far more scrupulous in its treatment of Adams, especially in its engagement with the rich historical scholarship on the subject. Even an expert can learn from this admirable book, and I did.

James Grant has written one of the most readable biographies I have ever come across. I was never interested in John Adams before (why I'm not sure) and even tended to make light of him in my own novel (if in no other way than that he only slightly appears), but a friend of mine is a big fan of Adams and when I saw this book, it seemed a good chance to spark conversation with him. Rather than rehash what has been said by other reviewers, I want to commend Grant for placing his historical comments in context. Rather than trying to explain Adams from a 21st century perspective while pretending not to, when Grant injects a 21st century persective (i.e. Adams' stand on slavery or his "progression of faith") he says so within the text. This, I thought, was a more honest way for him to make such comparisons than is found in so many modern writings. Grant is also an expert on finances and he made the fiscal problems of the Revolutionary era interesting in a way it never had been for me before. An excellent book!

Over the last decade or so there has been a great revival of interest in John Adams and a corresponding positive reevaluation of his accomplishments. Much of this renewed popular interest in our second president has been due to David McCullough's best selling biography and it is therefore hard not to compare this work to Mr. McCullough's excellent tome. Doing so would reveal that the McCullough book is more folksy, easier to read and gives the reader a much more warm feeling toward Mr. Adams while Mr. Grant is much more to the point, academic and does not hesitate to point out his subject's flaws. John Adams' most notable fault, besides his well-known ego and stubbornness is his virulent anti-Catholicism which is notably absent from other biographies. The loathing he feels for all things Catholic is by no means an attractive feature of Adams' personality and Mr. Grant is to be commended for not glossing over this blot on the Adams legacy. While this kind of bigotry was by no means unusual for those times, especially in Puritan New England, a man of Adams' stature and intelligence should have risen above such sentiments. Otherwise, Grant paints a very engaging picture of Adams, a man who in most respects I can relate to in many ways. Like Adams, I am most happy at home surrounded by my books and this love of books is a distinguishing trait of Adams' personality. As is his love for the simple life of a farmer, a trait that Grant brings to life with a story from London. It seems that during Adams' time as Minister to the Court of St. James someone noticed the diplomat walking along with his head down in what the observer took to be a state of deep thought. Grant checked Adam's diary for that day and found that the future president was looking down at the manure along the street and mentally comparing it's quality to the quality of the manure produced on his Massachusetts farm. He found the London manure to be inferior. While more academic than the McCullough book, this book is not without it's folksy stories. Mr. Grant has concentrated on Adams' service during the Revolutionary period and there was plenty of service to concentrate on. Adams' work in the Continental Congress and as a diplomat clearly places him on a level with Washington and Franklin as a founding father. Moreover, Adams, unlike Washington and Franklin, was not a wealthy man and he sacrificed his most productive years to his country. At one point saving America from financial ruin while almost going under himself. Grant does a masterful job of portraying Adams' role in this period and shows that the Revolution might have had a very different outcome if it weren't for John Adams. The people of the United States owe this man a great deal more than most people realize and this book makes that fact abundantly clear. All in all this is a good book that I found very enjoyable. There is very little time spent on the Adams presidency or his twenty-five years of retirement but that can

One might not expect a veteran economic journalist to produce one of the best biographies of John Adams ever written. But JOHN ADAMS: PARTY OF ONE defies expectations again and again, just as John Adams did. Written with clarity and grace, with respect for the primary sources and the existing historical and biographical scholarship on Adams and his time, JOHN ADAMS: PARTY OF ONE is an excellent study of its subject. Grant is particularly astute in his analysis of a focus of Adams's diplomatic activities during the 1780s -- his negotiations and renegotiations of the many loans that helped finance the new nation's quest for independence and its struggles to survive in the community of nations. Grant's dubbing of Adams as "America's premier junk bond salesman" is both funny and precise. The main advantages that Grant's book has over that by McCullough are that Grant's book is shorter, clearer, not at all filled with its own importance, and willing to take John Adams seriously both as a politician and a political thinker. Grant is willing to do the hard intellectual and writing work to convey to general readers the context of Adams's thought, the substance of his ideas, and the differences between his political philosophy and those of his contemporaries, including Jefferson and Paine. Even if you invested in McCullough's tome, buy and read this book. It is one of the best books on its subject ever written, having a great deal to say to general readers and to scholars alike.

John Adams is going through a bit of a revival these days-a development about which he no doubt would be both pleased and puzzled. This is the third Adams biography I have read in the past year, also taking in the recent books by John Diggins and David McCullough. All three books give Adams his due-something largely denied him in his own time. They capture the iconoclastic nature of his personality as well as his intellectual power and accomplishments. Diggins focuses on Adam's Presidency, so his narrative is somewhat restricted, and , in fact, his style is as well. McCullough on the other hand is his devilishly detailed self, sometimes to the extent of burdening the reader with more than he cares-or needs-to really know about things incredibly trivial and marginal to the story at hand. For my money, this biography by Grant is the best produced so far. I believe it does the best job of truly capturing the essence of Adams-his powers, his struggles, his insecurities, as well as capturing the total picture of both his personal and professional lives. At 530 pages, the book is expansive enough for the true historical aficionado without becoming tedious to the more casual historical reader. Moreover, grant is more oft able to put forward a fresher, more energetic view than is the more plodding and cumbersome McCullough. In the end, once one has finished the book, it's truly hard not to admire Adams for his accomplishments and his truly unique story. At the same time, it's also hard not to admire Mr. grant for finally putting out such a spectacular biography for a man who truly deserved one. An excellent book through and through.