Author: Kees de Mooy Publisher: Citadel Press ISBN: 080654001X Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 351
Book Description
The men and women who shaped our world—in their own words. The Wisdom Library invites you on a journey through the lives and works of the world’s greatest thinkers and leaders. Compiled by scholars, each book presents excerpts from the most important and revealing writings of the most remarkable minds of all time. THE WISDOM OF JOHN ADAMS “Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to liberty, and few nations, if any, have found it.” John Adams was America’s second president, first vice president, and a leading revolutionary, yet his remarkable accomplishments have sometimes been overshadowed by his peers, Washington and Jefferson. David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography has helped reestablish Adams as a truly heroic figure in his own right—intelligent, passionate, fiercely patriotic, and staunchly committed to the ideals of the United States. Now The Wisdom of John Adams further reveals—in Adams’ own words—this distinguished leader’s brilliance, foresight, and conviction. Here are excerpts from his greatest speeches and published works, including his oration on independence in the Continental Congress; Thoughts on Government, later the guide for several state constitutions; and his three-volume Defense of the Constitution of the United States. The Wisdom of John Adams also includes a selection of his forthright correspondence, as well as his tender love letters to his wife and strongest ally, Abigail—in all, essential reading for any student of the “American Experiment.”
Author: John Adams Publisher: ISBN: 9781557094537 Category : Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
An ageless and classic poem full of insight and tongue-in-cheek humor, The Wants of Man rings as true today as it did in 1840 when Adams wrote it.
Author: Thomas Jefferson Publisher: Citadel Press ISBN: 9780806524214 Category : United States Languages : en Pages : 276
Book Description
Statesman. Diplomat. Politician. Scholar. Inventor. Architect. There is no shortage of words to describe America's third president and true Renaissance man, Thomas Jefferson. As the author of the Declaration of Independence, he stands at the heart of the American experiment; his writings and ideas mark him as a draftsman of the American experience. Now, in The Wisdom of Thomas Jefferson, this powerful advocate of liberty comes to life through his own eloquent words. Here is the Thomas Jefferson who oversaw the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis/Clark exploration, established diplomatic relations with Great Britain, prohibited the importation of slaves, and grappled with his own contested election to the presidency. Here, too, is the gifted scholar and architect, a man who advanced the education of America by founding the University of Virginia while also designing and building his renowned plantation, Monticello. Drawing upon Jefferson's prolific body of letters and writings, this revealing book chronicles the birth and infancy of our democracy and provides fascinating insight into Jefferson's relationships with such historical luminaries as George Washington, James Madison, and his rival and colleague John Adams. Provocative and inspiring, challenging and informative, The Wisdom of Thomas Jefferson lets readers know this man of conviction, principle, and deep thought as someone who not only forged the spirit of our country but whose actions and ideas continue to influence us today. Book jacket.
Author: Nancy Isenberg Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0525557520 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 578
Book Description
"Told with authority and style. . . Crisply summarizing the Adamses' legacy, the authors stress principle over partisanship."--The Wall Street Journal How the father and son presidents foresaw the rise of the cult of personality and fought those who sought to abuse the weaknesses inherent in our democracy. Until now, no one has properly dissected the intertwined lives of the second and sixth (father and son) presidents. John and John Quincy Adams were brilliant, prickly politicians and arguably the most independently minded among leaders of the founding generation. Distrustful of blind allegiance to a political party, they brought a healthy skepticism of a brand-new system of government to the country's first 50 years. They were unpopular for their fears of the potential for demagoguery lurking in democracy, and--in a twist that predicted the turn of twenty-first century politics--they warned against, but were unable to stop, the seductive appeal of political celebrities Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. In a bold recasting of the Adamses' historical roles, The Problem of Democracy is a major critique of the ways in which their prophetic warnings have been systematically ignored over the centuries. It's also an intimate family drama that brings out the torment and personal hurt caused by the gritty conduct of early American politics. Burstein and Isenberg make sense of the presidents' somewhat iconoclastic, highly creative engagement with America's political and social realities. By taking the temperature of American democracy, from its heated origins through multiple upheavals, the authors reveal the dangers and weaknesses that have been present since the beginning. They provide a clear-eyed look at a decoy democracy that masks the reality of elite rule while remaining open, since the days of George Washington, to a very undemocratic result in the formation of a cult surrounding the person of an elected leader.
Author: David McCullough Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 141657588X Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 18
Book Description
Profiles John Adams, an influential patriot during the American Revolution who became the nation's first vice president and second president.
Author: Paul M. Zall Publisher: Ecco Press ISBN: Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 200
Book Description
"George Washington laughing? That the venerable Father of Our Country, the austere and unfailingly honest leader of historical record and legend, had a penchant for tall tales and crafty quips seems unthinkable to most Americans, even today. In The Wit & Wisdom of the Founding Fathers, historian and scholar Paul Zall shatters the sober image of American icons George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin to reveal - and celebrate - their natural bent for incisive, spirited humor." "With ample quotes from personal correspondence and private memoirs, Zall peers behind the staid and serious facade of our first three presidents and demonstrates how each strove to suppress his sense of mirth to maintain a dignified public reputation. By lifting the curtain on our Founding Fathers as they engage in practical jokes and regale friends with humorous stories, Zall opens a window on their personalities otherwise obscured by our preconceptions of them as larger-than-life historical figures. While Franklin's humor and wisdom is legendary thanks to his authorship of Poor Richard's Almanac, readers will be surprised to learn that Washington had a penchant for biting sarcasm; that Adams engaged in direct, colloquial, even vulgar, humor; and that Jefferson, our most cerebral president, enjoyed laughing at the absurdity of his own situation as leader of the nation."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Author: Joseph J. Ellis Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company ISBN: 0393068277 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 358
Book Description
An absorbing, insightful profile of the revolutionary leader, president, husband, and father from one of our best historians, now in a beautiful new package. John Adams was unique among the nation’s founders in leaving a record of his most intimate thoughts and feelings. Instinctively candid and politically incisive, Adams offers the clearest view of the ambitions and principles that drove the revolutionary generation. Passionate Sage offers a brilliant introduction to the second president: his politics, his affinities for family and friendship even with political opponents like Jefferson, and his enduring significance. “Ellis’s palpable affection lends a pleasing glow to his profile of Adams, which is why Passionate Sage is his best book.”—Judith Shulevitz, New York Times Book Review “Impassioned and erudite. . . . A captivating portrait of this Massachusetts native as a wonderfully contrary genius possessed of an uncommon moral intelligence and farsighted political wisdom.”—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times “The best portrait of a Revolutionary-era statesman.”—Evan Thomas, Wall Street Journal
Author: John Ferling Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199752737 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 545
Book Description
John Ferling has nearly forty years of experience as a historian of early America. The author of acclaimed histories such as A Leap into the Dark and Almost a Miracle, he has appeared on many TV and film documentaries on this pivotal period of our history. In John Adams: A Life, Ferling offers a compelling portrait of one of the giants of the Revolutionary era. Drawing on extensive research, Ferling depicts a reluctant revolutionary, a leader who was deeply troubled by the warfare that he helped to make, and a fiercely independent statesman. The book brings to life an exciting time, an age in which Adams played an important political and intellectual role. Indeed, few were more instrumental in making American independence a reality. He performed yeoman's service in the Continental Congress during the revolution and was a key figure in negotiating the treaty that brought peace following the long War of Independence. He held the highest office in the land and as president he courageously chose to pursue a course that he thought best for the nation, though it was fraught with personal political dangers. Adams emerges here a man full of contradictions. He could be petty and jealous, but also meditative, insightful, and provocative. In private and with friends he could be engagingly witty. He was terribly self-centered, but in his relationship with his wife and children his shortcomings were tempered by a deep, abiding love. John Ferling's masterful John Adams: A Life is a singular biography of the man who succeeded George Washington in the presidency and shepherded the fragile new nation through the most dangerous of times.
Author: Gordon S. Wood Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0735224714 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 530
Book Description
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017 A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2017 From the great historian of the American Revolution, New York Times-bestselling and Pulitzer-winning Gordon Wood, comes a majestic dual biography of two of America's most enduringly fascinating figures, whose partnership helped birth a nation, and whose subsequent falling out did much to fix its course. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams could scarcely have come from more different worlds, or been more different in temperament. Jefferson, the optimist with enough faith in the innate goodness of his fellow man to be democracy's champion, was an aristocratic Southern slaveowner, while Adams, the overachiever from New England's rising middling classes, painfully aware he was no aristocrat, was a skeptic about popular rule and a defender of a more elitist view of government. They worked closely in the crucible of revolution, crafting the Declaration of Independence and leading, with Franklin, the diplomatic effort that brought France into the fight. But ultimately, their profound differences would lead to a fundamental crisis, in their friendship and in the nation writ large, as they became the figureheads of two entirely new forces, the first American political parties. It was a bitter breach, lasting through the presidential administrations of both men, and beyond. But late in life, something remarkable happened: these two men were nudged into reconciliation. What started as a grudging trickle of correspondence became a great flood, and a friendship was rekindled, over the course of hundreds of letters. In their final years they were the last surviving founding fathers and cherished their role in this mighty young republic as it approached the half century mark in 1826. At last, on the afternoon of July 4th, 50 years to the day after the signing of the Declaration, Adams let out a sigh and said, At least Jefferson still lives. He died soon thereafter. In fact, a few hours earlier on that same day, far to the south in his home in Monticello, Jefferson died as well. Arguably no relationship in this country's history carries as much freight as that of John Adams of Massachusetts and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Gordon Wood has more than done justice to these entwined lives and their meaning; he has written a magnificent new addition to America's collective story.
Author: Kees de Mooy
Author: John Adams
Author: Thomas Jefferson
Author: Nancy Isenberg
Author: David McCullough
Author: Paul M. Zall
Author: John Adams
Author: Joseph J. Ellis
Author: John Ferling
Author: Gordon S. Wood