John Adams, HBO & family ties

Our latest It’s on Us Promotion winner is Allan N. of Dallas, GA.  Allan used kwiry to remember to buy David McCullough’s acclaimed biography of John Adams.   Allan had multiple reasons for wanting to check out this book - fascinated by the founding history of the United States, he watched the recent miniseries about John Adams on HBO.  Additionally, per Allan, “John Adams shows up in my family history”.  Sounds like a great set of reasons to me!  Now he’s the proud owner of the book, courtesy of kwiry, so he can be even more of an expert.

The Amazon review of the book includes the following snippet:

Overshadowed by the lustrous presidents Washington and Jefferson, who bracketed his tenure in office, Adams emerges from McCullough’s brilliant biography as a truly heroic figure–not only for his significant role in the American Revolution but also for maintaining his personal integrity in its strife-filled aftermath. McCullough spends much of his narrative examining the troubled friendship between Adams and Jefferson, who had in common a love for books and ideas but differed on almost every other imaginable point. Reading his pages, it is easy to imagine the two as alter egos. (Strangely, both died on the same day, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.) But McCullough also considers Adams in his own light, and the portrait that emerges is altogether fascinating. –Gregory McNamee