John Adams Read-a-Long :: Starting Post

Welcome to the John Adams read-a-long! Remember, this read-a-long is for bloggers and non-bloggers alike. Are you interested in U.S. History? Want to challenge yourself with some quality non-fiction? Always wanted to read a Pulitzer Prize winner, but never had the courage to go it alone? This is your chance to read this acclaimed book with other people. We keep ourselves accountable for our reading by posting quick thoughts each week, which also keeps the reading interesting by developing discussions about our weekly reading. This is a great space to give this book a try. Not only will I be posting thoughts (and occasionally helps) but others will as well. Interested in joining us for the next several weeks? Read on to find out more about this read-a-long.

Schedule:

Beginning Friday, April 1st and ending Friday, June 24th.

READING SCHEDULE:

Week #/ dates :: Chapters to Read

Week One/ April 1-7 :: ch. 1
Week Two/ April 8-14 :: ch. 2
Week Three/ April 15-21:: ch. 3
Week Four/ April 22-28 :: ch. 4
Week Five/ April 29- May 5 :: ch. 5
Week Six/ May 6-12 :: ch. 6
Week Seven/ May 13-19 :: ch. 7
Week Eight/ May 20-26 :: ch. 8
Week Nine/ May 27-June 2 :: ch. 9
Week Ten/ June 3-June 9 :: ch. 10
Week Eleven/ June 10-16 :: ch. 11
Week Twelve/ June 17-23 :: ch. 12

POSTING SCHEDULE:

Post #/ date post should be up on blog:

Start up Post/ April 1
Week One Review/ April 8
Week Two Review/ April 15
Week Three Review/ April 22
Week Four Review/ April 29
Week Five Review/ May 6
Week Six Review/ May 13
Week Seven Review/ May 20
Week Eight Review/ May 27
Week Nine Review/ June
Week Ten Review/ June 10
Week Eleven Review/ June 17
Week Twelve Review (Final Review)/ June 24

***don’t forget to come to this blog and post the link to your weekly review in the comments section of my weekly  John Adams  review (see below for more information)

How it Works:

1. Each week, on Friday, post your thoughts about the previous week’s reading. If you are stuck on what to post about, you can use these discussion questions to get you started. (You do not need to post a starting post, but if you would like to — just post something to let your readers know that every Friday you will be posting about your JA reading for the week.)
2. Each week, come here, to Unputdownables, and put the link to your post in the comments section (and take a minute to visit others’ blogs to see what they’ve thought of the reading). If you do not have a blog, post your thoughts on the reading directly in the comments section. *please refrain from posting ahead, even if you have read ahead, as to not spoil the book for others*
3. Feel free to use the read-a-long button from above in your posts or sidebars.

Background Information:

About the book:

Pulitzer Prize for Letters, Drama and Music, 2002

In this powerful, epic biography, David McCullough unfolds the adventurous life-journey of John Adams, the brilliant, fiercely independent, often irascible, always honest Yankee patriot — “the colossus of independence,” as Thomas Jefferson called him — who spared nothing in his zeal for the American Revolution; who rose to become the second President of the United States and saved the country from blundering into an unnecessary war; who was learned beyond all but a few and regarded by some as “out of his senses”; and whose marriage to the wise and valiant Abigail Adams is one of the moving love stories in American history.

Like his masterly, Pulitzer Prize-winning biography Truman, David McCullough’s John Adams has the sweep and vitality of a great novel. It is both a riveting portrait of an abundantly human man and a vivid evocation of his time, much of it drawn from an outstanding collection of Adams family letters and diaries. In particular, the more than one thousand surviving letters between John and Abigail Adams, nearly half of which have never been published, provide extraordinary access to their private lives and make it possible to know John Adams as no other major American of his founding era.

As he has with stunning effect in his previous books, McCullough tells the story from within — from the point of view of the amazing eighteenth century and of those who, caught up in events, had no sure way of knowing how things would turn out. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, the British spy Edward Bancroft, Madame Lafayette and Jefferson’s Paris “interest” Maria Cosway, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, the scandalmonger James Callender, Sally Hemings, John Marshall, Talleyrand, and Aaron Burr all figure in this panoramic chronicle, as does, importantly, John Quincy Adams, the adored son whom Adams would live to see become President.

Crucial to the story, as it was to history, is the relationship between Adams and Jefferson, born opposites — one a Massachusetts farmer’s son, the other a Virginia aristocrat and slaveholder, one short and stout, the other tall and spare. Adams embraced conflict; Jefferson avoided it. Adams had great humor; Jefferson, very little. But they were alike in their devotion to their country.

At first they were ardent co-revolutionaries, then fellow diplomats and close friends. With the advent of the two political parties, they became archrivals, even enemies, in the intense struggle for the presidency in 1800, perhaps the most vicious election in history. Then, amazingly, they became friends again, and ultimately, incredibly, they died on the same day — their day of days — July 4, in the year 1826.

Much about John Adams’s life will come as a surprise to many readers. His courageous voyage on the frigate Boston in the winter of 1778 and his later trek over the Pyrenees are exploits that few would have dared and that few readers will ever forget.

It is a life encompassing a huge arc — Adams lived longer than any president. The story ranges from the Boston Massacre to Philadelphia in 1776 to the Versailles of Louis XVI, from Spain to Amsterdam, from the Court of St. James’s, where Adams was the first American to stand before King George III as a representative of the new nation, to the raw, half-finished Capital by the Potomac, where Adams was the first President to occupy the White House.

This is history on a grand scale — a book about politics and war and social issues, but also about human nature, love, religious faith, virtue, ambition, friendship and betrayal, and the far-reaching consequences of noble ideas. Above all, John Adams is an enthralling, often surprising story of one of the most important and fascinating Americans who ever lived. (summary from BookBrowse.com)

About David McCullough:

David McCullough has been widely acclaimed as a “master of the art of narrative history,” “a matchless writer.” He is twice winner of the National Book Award, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize. In December 2006 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nations’s highest civilian award.

His books have been praised for their scholarship, their understanding of American life, their “vibrant prose,” and insight into individual character. Mr. McCullough’s most recent book, 1776, the number one New York Times national bestseller in both hardcover and paperback, has been called, “brilliant…powerful,” “a classic,” while his previous work, John Adams, remains one of the most critically acclaimed and widely read American biographies of all time. To date more than two million copies have been sold.

In the words of the citation accompanying his honorary degree from Yale, “As an historian, he paints with words, giving us pictures of the American people that live, breathe, and above all, confront the fundamental issues of courage, achievement, and moral character.”

Mr. McCullough’s other books include The Johnstown Flood, The Great Bridge, The Path between the Seas, Mornings on Horseback, Brave Companions, and Truman. As may be said of few writers, none of his books has ever been out of print.

David McCullough is as well twice winner of the prestigious Francis Parkman Prize, and for his work overall he has been honored by the National Book Foundation Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award and the National Humanities Medal. He has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has received more than forty honorary degrees.

In a crowded, productive career, he has been an editor, essayist, teacher, lecturer, and familiar presence on public television — as host ofSmithsonian World, The American Experience, and narrator of numerous documentaries including The Civil War. His is also the narrator’s voice in the movie Seabiscuit.

A gifted speaker, Mr. McCullough has lectured in all parts of the country and abroad, as well as at the White House. He is also one of the few private citizens to speak before a joint session of Congress.

Born in Pittsburgh, Mr. McCullough was educated there and at Yale, where he was graduated with honors in English literature. He is an avid reader, traveler, and has enjoyed a lifelong interest in art and architecture. He is as well a devoted painter. Mr. McCullough and his wife Rosalee Barnes McCullough have five children and eighteen grandchildren. (bio from BookBrowse.com)

Who’s Reading Along:

Cindi
Trisha
@jackiemania
Patti Smith
Michelle @ The True Book Addict
Julie G
Katy F.
June Morgan (chorkie)
socrmom78 (Pam)
Melissa C.
Kim
Book Addict Katie
Elspeth

(If you are participating and I don’t have you on this list, please let me know. I did not include people who said ‘maybe’ so if you have changed your mind and are definitely reading along with us, let me know so I can add you. Also, if you are not going to be able to join us anymore please let me know and I will take you off the list. If you go for two weeks without sharing the link for your weekly update in my weekly update comments section, I will assume you are no longer participating and will take you off of the list. Thanks!)