John Adams loved life. He was awkward and yet confident. He was strident and yet humble. He was honest. There is no contrary side to that: he was honest. I earnestly enjoyed my reread of John Adams by David McCullough (published 2001) because his life was so ordinary and yet extraordinary at the same time.

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The Tyranny of Printers by Jeffrey L. Palsey (University of Virginia Press, 2001) is a scholarly history of, as the subtitle says, Newspaper Politics in the Early American Republic. With an abundance of research and a readable set of examples in each chapter that focus on specific newspaper printers and situations, the book opened my

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Young John Quincy by Cheryl Harkness (Bradbury Press, 1994) is a unique historical fiction story about John Quincy Adams in which events from his childhood during the Revolutionary era in America tell a story. Harkness provides age detailed illustrations and maps to accompany his story. Although the text is lengthy for young readers, Young John

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Before I left for a quick family trip, I finally finished Those Who Love by Irving Stone, a novelization of the John and Abigail Adams relationship. As I wrote in my first post two months ago, it was nice to recognize the impact the revolution and war must have had on the personal lives of

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I am still at the very beginning of Irving Stone’s novelization of John and Abigail Adam’s story, but I feel I must touch base and let you know about it. Reading a novel about the era has brought the issues to life. Right now in the novel, John and Abigail have been married for just

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As I’ve scoured the lists of books about revolutionary America for a book to read for my own education, I struggled to find one that covered a variety of people (I love biographies, but I can’t read one about everyone!) and eras (I would love to learn about all eras of the revolution, from the

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