BOOK REVIEW: John Adams

Book Review – John Adams, by David McCullough

-Christopher Carroll

 

David McCullough’s John Adams is deserving of every accolade it has received and then some. Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize, the book is already well known by many. Beautifully written, wonderfully researched and engagingly told, McCullough can safely claim to have written a page-turner.

McCullough’s infatuation with the second President of the United States is evident throughout the book. Adam’s career is painstakingly studied, every career choice and parcel of correspondence leads McCullough and his audience to appreciate Adam’s role in the creation and propulsion of the American experiment. It becomes clear that Adams, a yankee from Massachusetts, a farmer from modest means who made a name for himself through hard work and dedicated study, epitomizes the ideal American citizen and servant.

While the book is devoted to John Adams, McCullough necessarily devotes great amounts of research and writing to one of the other famous founders of the era, Thomas Jefferson. At times, it is easy to forget who the principal character of McCullough’s study is, Adams or Jefferson. McCullough makes clear the complexity and subtlety of the friendship, partnership, conflict, and competition that existed between the two great men. In doing so, McCullough’s preference for Adams seeps through the pages.

****

John Adams, the voice of the Declaration of Independence, is clearly an underappreciated force in the lexicon of American statesman. The roles he played in Congress in the drafting and defense of the Declaration, his role as a foreign diplomat in France, the Netherlands, and England, and his honest work as the first Vice President and second President of the United States make him one of the most important public servants in American history.  Without his famous temper, intellect and stubborn pursuit of American interests, it is doubtful that the American experiment in democracy would have proved as successful as it has.

While Mr. McCullough’s writing and research are exemplary, the most striking facet of the book is the importance McCullough attributes to Adam’s wife, Abigail, without whom it is clear John’s career and life would have been vastly less fruitful. McCullough leaves his audience in awe of Abigail Adams. Though forced to spend long periods of time separated while John was serving in Philadelphia, France, England and the Netherlands, she was nevertheless John Adams’ rock, confidant and most trusted advisor.

While John Adams is remembered and studied today in high school history classes, McCullough makes it evident that without Abigail, Adams likely would not have been the man we now know. High school history teachers would do well to remember Abigail Adams, who is just as much an American Founder as was her husband. Like her husband, Abigail was in every way an American hero, supporting a family during extraordinary revolutionary circumstances by herself while simultaneously supporting and counseling her husband in Philadelphia and abroad. McCullough’s appreciation for Adam’s strength of character is matched only by his appreciation for that of Abigail’s.

John Adams was an absolute pleasure to read and will be found enjoyable for students of American history and for those who are simply curious. Our politicians today would do well to emulate Adam’s career, examine the strength of character exhibited by Mr. and Mrs. Adams. They, in particular, were never willing to compromise their dedication to better the lives of their neighbors nor did their commitment to the American cause ever falter in the face of self-preservation or interest. They did not seek fortune, nor did they find it. They did not seek power, yet they wore it well when thrust upon them. Our own politicians must look to John and Abigail Adams for an example, for they showed that dedication, hard work, self sacrifice and love of one another and one’s country will always beat oppression, greed and the seizure of power. They exemplified the qualities necessary in effective leaders. Who is to say what American politics would be like today if we had a few more John and Abigail Adams’. In all likelihood however, Washington D.C would be a much different place.

Book Review: Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence: American foreign Policy and How it Changed the World

BOOK REVIEW: Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence: American foreign Policy and How it Changed the World

-Christopher Carroll

 

Walter Russell Mead’s Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World, is a wonderful book that is easy to read, engaging and provocative. Published in 2001, it won the Lionel Gelber Award for the best book written in English on International Relations in 2002.

Mead theorizes that American foreign policy has been exceedingly successful and not the blundering mess that many consider it to have been. He defends this through examining four schools of international thought in American policies: the Hamiltonian, where protection of economic markets and American economic interests reigns supreme, the Wilsonian, where creation of a moral world order and governing system is key, the Jeffersonian, where protection of the American constitution is the primary interest of government and the Jacksonian, where populist opinions and American folk values rule international action. The interplay between these schools, according to Mead, is one of the reasons American foreign policy has been so successful.

Cover via Amazon

Mead’s writing and analysis are fantastic. His engaging style is easily comprehended, allowing his argument to take full effect. By turning to the American past, he is able to identify pillars of American thought and tap into his audiences’ sense of American history, lore and culture. This allows Mead to guide the audience through his description of the schools and how they have influenced American policy.

Though written before the tumultuous events that have followed the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, Mead’s analysis has been proven both correct and relevant to today’s readership. His argument that American foreign policy is in the most danger when the nationalist and globalist schools do not have a common goal or enemy has been realized of late. In these ambiguous times, though all four schools get a little bit of what they want, the country’s policy is often middling. The schools, which all play exceedingly important roles in policy making, must be able to agree on a common hegemonic paradigm (like during the Cold War) for American policy to function successfully. When it does, Mead would argue, American foreign policy is uniquely successful and powerful.

****

Though Mead professes to identify with the Jeffersonian school, he seems he writes most persuasively for the school he attributes to Andrew Jackson. Mead is right to stress the importance of a frequently overlooked and misunderstood portion of American society. Folk culture and interests have undeniably strong effects on domestic and foreign politics. Because of this, the Jacksonian and Jeffersonian schools will play major roles in American foreign policy in the near future.

The economic meltdown has brought resentment upon the Hamiltonians and the toll that the War on Terror has taken has made the country Wilsonian-weary. Already, the country’s reluctance to enter conflicts in Syria, Egypt and Libya are proof of the nation’s hesitancy to follow the moralistic preferences of Wilsonians. Instead, the minimalist nature of Jacksonian foreign policy, supported by Jacksonian populism, will lead American policy. The world will likely see a more hesitant America in the world of foreign policy. America will, for a short time at least, adopt a foreign policy that could be described as a  “what doesn’t hurt us, won’t concern us” strategy. This is likely to be sound strategy in a world marked by global economic insecurity and idealistic dissemblance.