The Character and Legacy of John Adams, Book Review Example

In “Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams”, the author, Joseph J. Ellis writes a seemingly philosophical view of former president and founding father John Adams’ character  rather than a simple biography. This book was likely written because it is a topic that interests the author; the personality attributes of John Adams certainly contributed to his success and influence on the way that principles that the United States was founded upon, so it is useful to understand why John Adams is so famous and revered today. The main idea of this book is that John Adams is one of the most misunderstood and unappreciated founding fathers. While we hear regular information about famous historical characters such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and may even be aware of their lives details, John Adams is rarely mentioned except in passing. The main goal of the author in writing this book is therefore to bring awareness to the American population about the life of an important individual in our country’s history that very few of us actually know anything about. In doing so, we are given a more complete view of our country’s history rather than the one that is typically fed to us throughout our education. While reading this book, it is important for us to form our own opinions about John Adams and how we feel about his contributions to the development of this nation.

When individuals analyze famous historical characters, such as is done here, they usually form a biased opinion of their topic. Although the author seems slightly biased because he writes in favor of the former president, most of his opinions are objective because he analyzes the character of John Adams using primary sources, such as letters between him and his wife Abigail. In doing so, he shows us the character of John Adams in a way that we are not fully subject to his opinion. Although we are more likely to agree with the author because this is the only opinion presented before us, having access to the original documents written by him allows us to come up with our own ideas as well.

The structure of the book is effective because the first third appears to mimic a traditional biography in which the author discusses and analyzes the life of the former president. It includes the typical historical account that many of us have heard about John Adams, but is useful because it reinforces this information and prepares us for the other sections of the book. The next section summarizes Adams’ philosophies and includes correspondence and writings that reflect his personal views. This section is a little difficult to read because it appears to be written for a high level doctoral student. The last third of the book focuses on the last few years of John Adams’ life and is thusly a reasonable way to end the book. It helps demonstrate the complete evolution of Adams’ ideas throughout his life.

This book is a little misleading because it appears to be a simple biography about a famous man in American history, but it is instead similar to a doctoral dissertation about his political views. The subject is described in detail as is his contribution to the country. However, the book is lacking a detailed review that links the relevance of John Adams’ accomplishments to his time period. For a book that is primarily analytical in nature, this would have been useful information to include, and the efficacy of the book is diminished because this is missing. Ultimately, the book was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it to adults who wish to know more about John Adams. However, since certain parts of the book were complex, I would not recommend it for individuals who have not completed at least a part of their college education.

Works Cited

Ellis JJ. “Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams”. W. W. Norton & Company, 1993.

Steve. “Review of “Passionate Sage” by Joseph J. Ellis”. Feb 2013. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.