Samuel Adams: A Life
Product Description
In this stirring biography, Samuel Adams joins the first tier of founding fathers, a rank he has long deserved. With eloquence equal to that of Thomas Jefferson and Tom Paine, and with a passionate love of God, Adams helped ignite the flame of liberty and made sure it glowed even during the Revolution’s darkest hours. He was, as Jefferson later observed, “truly the man of the Revolution. “In a role that many Americans have not fully appreciated until now, Adams playe. . . More >>
May 13th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
This is a must-buy for anyone who loved McCullough’s John Adams or Isaacson’s Benjamin Franklin. Ira Stoll puts Sam Adams back where he belongs, front and center with the great founding fathers. But “Samuel Adams, A Life” is not merely a work of history, it is a powerful argument about the ideas that made America and still, to this day, shape the nation. Stoll demonstrates, through the life and writing of Adams, how much religion and property rights motivated the revolutionaries of New England. From the first chapter, I felt I was not just learning about important history, but I was also gaining insight into the character of America. This book is bound to help change how we think about the Revolution. And it will help us understand how Sam Adams continues to influence our own era.
Rating: 5 / 5
May 13th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
In “Samuel Adams: A Life,” journalist Ira Stoll has rescued from relative (and undeserved) obscurity one of the most influential and fascinating figures of the American Revolutionary generation. Samuel Adams was one of the earliest and most zealous of the Boston firebrands. At the same time, he was imbued with a worldview inherited from his Puritan ancestors that placed the urgent events of the day in God’s time. His “religious tranquillity” was much commented upon by his contemporaries, and Stoll is committed to understanding the paradox of the “tranquil revolutionary. ” Stoll’s crystal clear and plain-spoken prose is entirely fitting for his equally plain-spoken subject. What emerges is a full-blooded portrait of a man whose idea of America resonates — and often tellingly contrasts — with positions on the right and left in our own debates about the nation’s course and what it means to be a patriotic American. For history scholars and enthusiasts, for anyone interested in the origins of American political culture, and for today’s political junkies, this book is a wonderful read.
Rating: 5 / 5
May 13th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Most books you read on the revolution make at least some reference to Samuel Adams. Books dealing with the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution even more so. This in mind I decided to read a bit more on the man.
Why should you read this book? It gives great background on Adams and the Commonwealth of Massachusettes prior to the start of the revolution, discusses a lot about S. Adams’ role in bringing it about, and in doing both gives us some important background on the role religion did and did not play in both.
S. Adams stands somewhat alone as the religious voice of the founding fathers. While many had strong beliefs of their own, this man was driven by them. His life and legacy centered around religion and the role he thought it played in a just and lasting society.
The book never takes his side on the matter, in fact does a pretty good job of showing many others as much more supportive of a govenment that was
tolerant to everyone including those Adams refered to as “Papists”.
If you’re interested in the founding fathers do not miss this book. There may be better ones out there but this book is fairly easy to read and includes a lot of letters to, from, and about S. Adams and some reference to the role of the newspapers as well.
One of the few founding fathers with no military or law experience he was nonetheless on of the most important men of his time and this book tells why in a very inviting manner.
Rating: 3 / 5
May 13th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
My interest in Samuel Adams increased after watching the John Adams television series. So when I spotted this book I decided to give it a try. It was a good decision to say the least. I have read through the reviews on this site and note some criticism. Here is my take. First, I liked the extensive quotations because I like to read primary source material; it doesn’t get altered by the author and one can get closer to the truth using it. Second, I don’t find the book at all “dry” as some reviewers mentioned. If those reviewers want more excitement they can read fictional works. The farther away one gets from primary sources the more “excitement” that can be created by the author because the truth can be adjusted. Third, the religious perspective that Adams had was so interesting to me that I am beginning to think a bit differently about religion now. Although I am in the Richard Dawkins camp regarding religion, after reading this book it certainly does seem that the good, moral values that one associates with religion and going to church helped to motivate the Revolutionary generation enough to make Independence work. Even though the end of footnote 37 for the last chapter of the book suggests that the motivation for the Revolution was primarily political, not religious, a point on which I do agree, at the same time it also seems to me that a less God-fearing group of people would have had a tougher time winning. The emotional support provided by religion had to have helped motivate those people. Let me clarify this a little. It is estimated by some that eighty percent of the Israeli population do not believe in God. I don’t know how precisely close to that figure the percentage was during Israel’s War of Independence but the important point is that the cultural and social effects of religion which were obviously substantial despite the percentage of atheism that there was provided a foundation for winning. Victory was doubtful for both countries but somehow the U. S. and Israel both won. I am not here to take time and argue a comparison between the independence efforts of the two countries but instead want only to support Mr. Stoll’s book about Samuel Adams. But this discussion it has caused me to engage in here is perhaps the salient point. This book really made me think more deeply about the American Revolution than I had previously and I feel that I know more now about this subject than I did before. Isn’t that the point of reading history?
Rating: 5 / 5
May 13th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
SAMUEL ADAMS: A LIFE is a remarkable story about a remarkable man. Patriot, founder, revolutionary, politician and statesman, Samuel Adams was a light that burned very brightly during the tumultuous, dangerous, heady days during the birth of America.
Time and time again, revolutionary zeal faded to timidity and fear. Patriots’ courage failed. Plans went desperately awry. And time and time again, Samuel Adams and his close band of freedom fighters rallied themselves and others to the cause of liberty. Tirelessly, they labored, far from friends and family, to bring to fruition the fruit of their rebellion, a unified country.
As a man of faith, Adams saw God’s providential hand in the birth of a free nation; out from under the tyrannical rule of English kings and potentates. Whether the focus of his pen and fervor was the practice of religion (for Protestants, anyway), the oppression of British troops, or taxes, Adams’ goal was always the same: freedom.
Freedom. The potent, liberating drink of free men and women to live their lives without interference from anything but their own conscience. Liberty. High and noble ideals of government by consent of the governed. Was such a thing possible? At what cost.
To these noble virtues cast Adams, Jefferson, Hancock and others their names, sacred honor, and earthly fortunes. The fires of rebellion burned brightly and none more brightly than the heart, mind, and mouth of Samuel Adams.
To this day, his contributions to the Massachusetts Constitution, US Constitution, and underpinnings of the Declaration of Independence live on. No Founding Father contributed more or at a greater price than Adams.
Rating: 5 / 5