JOHN ADAMS

Our second president has captured the interest of many in the past several years due primarily to distinguished historian David McCullough's masterful biography, also titled JOHN ADAMS (2001). Diggins's smaller work, an entry in The American Presidents series, under the editorship of Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., is short on biography and long on political philosophy. Adams was a tireless writer, and Diggins sees his politics as studied, coherent, and consistent, unlike those of Thomas Jefferson, a leader whom Diggins strongly criticizes. Richard Rohan has the thankless task of bringing to life a dry narrative in which personality is scarcely featured. He contents himself with a straightforward reading. D.R.W.
(c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 04]