First Family: Abigail & John Adams. Joseph J. Ellis.
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tvc15ma
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First Family: Abigail & John Adams. Joseph J. Ellis.
First Family: Abigail & John Adams. Joseph J. Ellis. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knoff, 2010. 299 pages. $27.95 (hardcover).
First Family: Abigail & John Adams is popular history at its best. It provides the general reader with a nuanced and at times touching portrait of America’s first power couple and family dynasty. Long before the Kennedy, Clinton, and Bush families took center stage there was the Adams family, and Joseph Ellis provides us with an insightful glimpse into their lives and times.
This relatively slight volume relies to a great degree on the profuse collection of letters written by John and Abigail Adams. They provide a fascinating window into their thoughts and feelings about the people and the great issues of the times. But at no time does the author deluge the reader with pages of primary material better suited to the professional historian or researcher. Instead the author uses brief and often eloquent snippets of material to illustrate and emphasize the points he is making.
There are very few authors (Bruce Catton comes to mind) that are better able to explain and elucidate with such a precise use of the language and yet still convey emotion. This paragraph describing the Adams couples final years together illustrates the point perfectly:
“As their friends, close relatives, even their own children died around them, as the irrevocable aging process and accompanying physical failures made each look into the mirror a moment of horror, as the extended family that surrounded them at Quincy came to resemble a menagerie of wounded animals, Abigail and John remained resolute, infinitely resilient, the invulnerable center that would always hold. If love, like leadership, could never be defined, only recognized when it presented itself in its most ideal form, the embodied it. The long melody played on.”
This study provides a sweeping historical overview of the life and times of John and Abigail Adams with occasional anecdotal interludes that illustrate important moments that even the most ardent Adams-phile may find unfamiliar. The author managers to make a sympathetic protagonist of John Adams, despite the best efforts of Adams himself, who often seems bent on self-destruction. He also provides devastating portraits of Jefferson and Hamilton. Due to the nature of the volume they touch upon some of the worst excesses of their behavior in relation to Adams. Without a complete picture of their lives and accomplishments this might make some reader’s question how either character ended up on Mt. Rushmore or the ten dollar bill. The volume illustrates that the greatest of men can have immense character flaws, as it does with Adams as well. In the end Adams was able to forgive Jefferson (although not Hamilton) and so the reader must as well, even if the acts in question were quasi-treasonous and duplicitous.
From a historical perspective this book is an important addition to the literature documenting our founding fathers. But this book is far more than that. It is the story of a lifetime relationship, with all of the trials and tribulations that implies. The style is insightful and often surprisingly emotional, almost as if the author were writing about himself at times. Joseph Ellis at least twice referred to the Adams couple as soul mates in this book, and after reading it you would be hard pressed to cite another couple that more fully deserve this description.
Stephen Donnelly is a consultant for the insurance industry and a Westfield State College alumnus.
First Family: Abigail & John Adams is popular history at its best. It provides the general reader with a nuanced and at times touching portrait of America’s first power couple and family dynasty. Long before the Kennedy, Clinton, and Bush families took center stage there was the Adams family, and Joseph Ellis provides us with an insightful glimpse into their lives and times.
This relatively slight volume relies to a great degree on the profuse collection of letters written by John and Abigail Adams. They provide a fascinating window into their thoughts and feelings about the people and the great issues of the times. But at no time does the author deluge the reader with pages of primary material better suited to the professional historian or researcher. Instead the author uses brief and often eloquent snippets of material to illustrate and emphasize the points he is making.
There are very few authors (Bruce Catton comes to mind) that are better able to explain and elucidate with such a precise use of the language and yet still convey emotion. This paragraph describing the Adams couples final years together illustrates the point perfectly:
“As their friends, close relatives, even their own children died around them, as the irrevocable aging process and accompanying physical failures made each look into the mirror a moment of horror, as the extended family that surrounded them at Quincy came to resemble a menagerie of wounded animals, Abigail and John remained resolute, infinitely resilient, the invulnerable center that would always hold. If love, like leadership, could never be defined, only recognized when it presented itself in its most ideal form, the embodied it. The long melody played on.”
This study provides a sweeping historical overview of the life and times of John and Abigail Adams with occasional anecdotal interludes that illustrate important moments that even the most ardent Adams-phile may find unfamiliar. The author managers to make a sympathetic protagonist of John Adams, despite the best efforts of Adams himself, who often seems bent on self-destruction. He also provides devastating portraits of Jefferson and Hamilton. Due to the nature of the volume they touch upon some of the worst excesses of their behavior in relation to Adams. Without a complete picture of their lives and accomplishments this might make some reader’s question how either character ended up on Mt. Rushmore or the ten dollar bill. The volume illustrates that the greatest of men can have immense character flaws, as it does with Adams as well. In the end Adams was able to forgive Jefferson (although not Hamilton) and so the reader must as well, even if the acts in question were quasi-treasonous and duplicitous.
From a historical perspective this book is an important addition to the literature documenting our founding fathers. But this book is far more than that. It is the story of a lifetime relationship, with all of the trials and tribulations that implies. The style is insightful and often surprisingly emotional, almost as if the author were writing about himself at times. Joseph Ellis at least twice referred to the Adams couple as soul mates in this book, and after reading it you would be hard pressed to cite another couple that more fully deserve this description.
Stephen Donnelly is a consultant for the insurance industry and a Westfield State College alumnus.
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gnewburn50
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This was a wonderful book and story of our founding fathers and how America came to be. Not only did the author depict the life and times of John and Abigail Adams but also gave us a glimpse of America's other founding first families. It was fun to read the personality and lives of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson viewed through John and Abilgail's eyes. The letters written by John and Abigail gave us some interesting tidbits about George and his feelings, Jefferson's life and his shyness. Adams mentioned he did not know Jefferson could speak because Jefferson alway's remained shy and silent. I also found it interesting that Adams kept repeating that he just wanted to be a farmer and in the end it was what he finally did become. I think he was unsure of what he was doing early in his marriage and political views, but with Abilgail's encouragement he became a great leader.
