John Adams
Subtitle: a life
By: John Ferling
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Oxford University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 535
ISBN-13: 9780195398663
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"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Originally published: Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, c1992.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:; title: Preface Introduction Part One: Love of Fame 1. Vanity Is My Cardinal Vice 2. Shall I Creep or Fly? 3. To Thine Own Self Be True 4. The Scene of Action Part Two: An Epocha in History 5. Tea that Bainful Weed 6. Until Our Rights Are Fully Restored 7. We Shall Do Something in Time 8. Oh That I Was a Soldier! 9. A Total Absolute Independence 10. To Leave This Station with Honour Part Three: Safe and Glorious in the Harbour of Peace 11. A Man of No Consequence 12. My Business Is Peace 13. Thus Drops the Curtain 14. High against America Part Four: One Man of Inflexible Integrity 15. Much to Be Grateful For 16. An Office of Hard Labor and Severe Duty 17. War Is Inexpedient 18. Thunderstruck 19. The Seeds of Discontent and Division Part Five: I Still Live and Enjoy Life 20. A Retired Hermetical Life 21. A Heavy Burden to Carry Afterword Abbreviations Notes Select Bibliography Index.