James Truslow AdamsRezensionen

Mr. Adams, apparently, coined the phrase "the American Dream," and his 1931 text is the first place the now hackneyed phrase appears in print as a freighted concept implying security, safety, healthy nuclear families and home-ownership. This claim may be in error, but I have found nothing that contradicts it.

The Epilogue states that Charles Francis Adams III, "is head of the family & Secretary of that Navy which was founded by John." The book was published in 1930, during the great depression! I wonder how many of John Adams' descendants are alive today & what are they doing?

Finally! this is a history resource book, not really a reading for pleasure book. Because it was published in 1927, I didn't read the last chapter "Critical Essay on Authorities"...There are probably a lot newer ones. It covers over 70 years, so goes back & forth over certain topics, like how the Northern & Southern colonies compared at different times during the period. It mentions the Treaty of Utrecht (which I've never heard of) & it's effects on colonization. I didn't like that the term "capitalist" seemed to equate with "dirty rotten cheater that took advantage of everyone & every situation, especially any political advantage it could find." I think that better describes the Democrats now, but not my definition of capitalist.

This is a great resource for studying early American History, maps start with the "Discovery of America" & follow her history to 1912, when Arizona & New Mexico were admitted to the Union. I can see this being a great help to those who understand graphs & maps better than the printed word!

3541. The Adams Family, by James Truslow Adams (read 16 Feb 2002) This is a 1930 book on four generations of the Adams family, obviously read as a result of reading David McCullough's superb bio of John. Since this book covers John and his son and grandson and great-grandsons in far fewer pages than McCullough devoted to John, it is abbreviated-sounding--and not as hagiographical as McCullough in regard to John. The family is an amazing one and well worth the time I have spent on it (which includes not only McCullough's book but Page Smith's two volume bio of John, Samuel Flagg Bemis' two volume bio of John Quincy Adams, and Ernest Samuels' three-volume bio of Henry Adams).½

Illustrated history of America covers the Colonial Period in volume 1 and the years 1783-1853 in volume 2.

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History, Politics, Non-Fiction