John Adams by David McCullough

OK, so, Pres book #2...well, this one won a Pulitzer, so not sure what I could say about it that hasn't already been documented by many others with better mastery of the English language and probably more time as well, but hey, this is my blog, so I'll ramble on for a bit anyway.

It was a well written, very detailed, but not extremely heavy read -- well, I borrowed the hardback from someone, so it did actually weigh a lot, but the content flowed pretty well.   Some things were more detailed than perhaps I cared to read about, namely the endless elaboration about Mrs. Adam's (pretty amazing lady it turns out) home decorations and personal attire, but even those were framed in a manner that at least painted a picture so to speak.   I learned a great deal about the time period by reading the book and that may end up being my greatest fascination with this project, just learning a bit about how things were.   McCullough did a solid job in his attempt to be objective, in that even though it was apparent that he thinks highly of John Adams and all of his accomplishments, he also made it clear that our second President had his shortcomings as well.  So, overall summary...good book, I would've preferred if it had been say 400 pages instead of 700+-, but having made it through the 700 confirms that it had to have been a pretty good book to read.  I was eager to read the next book after finishing this one, which is a testament....now, what did I learn?   Well, let's stick with the "comments about the book and then list things I learned" format as that seems easiest...so, here's the John Adams book list of things stupid Bobby learned:

• John Adams represented the British Soldiers, successfully, in the Boston Massacre.  I found that truly amazing and shocking that I didn't know that before, or at least didn't remember it...throughout his life he managed to give the law profession a good name, confirming that, well, some things do change...and drastically.   
• Our founding Fathers were very serious about how they would be viewed by future generations etc.; Adams was borderline obsessive with his documentation for sake of posterity.   
• Spending government money freely, without concern for sustainability is not new to our generation -- The Adams Family, minus Lurch, felt fully justified living like kings overseas on Uncle Sam's dime, though at least that's all they did as opposed to flat out stealing.   Gotta credit our founding Fathers for being honest in that regard as well, as by all accounts they were.
• It took a long time to get across the Atlantic back then...and it was insanely dangerous, I truly had no idea.  It was additionally amazing to me that as a new country we sent envoys to Europe with regularity, even though communicating with them was at best a seemingly hopelessly delayed process.   
• That generation had more spare time than we do -- sure that may just seem like 21st Century whining...or would that be Weining?...but I honestly don't see how it can be seen any other way...when Congress wasn't in session the leaders went and lived completely different lives....when major decisions needed to be made everyone stopped what they were doing and just hashed it out until completed, no harm done to any markets etc. while they did.   Decisions could wait on news from Europe that would arrive, MAYBE, within the next few months.  Taking weeks or months off was basically of no consequence and at no time did anyone think less of another for doing it.   Everyone seemed to have had time to read and write at great length.  
• We actually owe a lot to Holland/The Netherlands -- turns out, on Adams request, they lent the U.S.A. money that was vital to our survival as a young country at war.   Reading this made me hate the 2 guys I know from there a little bit less...a little bit.  (I like the country and the people, it's just the two I know best I don't like at all...it's work related, trust me, it's not interesting at all).
• He died on the 50th anniversary of July 4th celebration...in his correspondence he seemed to just want to make it to that date before passing.   
• Philadelphia, PA was effectively the Nations 1st Capital, as the home of what acted as the Capitol -- I may have learned that in the first book, but anyway, it was news to me.
• JA was the 1st one term president
• John was a very emotional guy -- he and Jefferson had an on again off again relationship that defies logic and seemed to exhaust them both over the course of their lives.  
• The English thought of American's as beneath them...makes sense, considering the time, but that underlying mindset, plus the War(s), makes it amazing to me that we've come so far as to now consider each other allies without strings to speak of.   
• John Adams despised Benjamin Franklin.

OK, that's all for book #2, hope to post something about book #3 pretty soon as I continue to try to catch up (still on Pres #10 as I write this)