Totally Non-Duck Related

Rick Pierce

Rick Pierce

Well-known member
Did anyone else catch the HBO series on John Adams?

I was pretty amazed, and am going to start a little bit more study of the Revolutionary War period. My public-school education made the events seem like those of a unified group of people, when in fact, they were divided, contentious, and as human then as in the situations we see today.

One thing that I had to remember was that these men, sitting around a table prior to the break with England, still raised glasses with, "God Save the King". They were still English subjects. And I never realized that John Adams was the one to defend the soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre.

If anyone has a favorite book related to that time period, the founding fathers, etc. post it up and give me some ideas.
 
Not exactly light reading, but if you read the Federalist Papers you will learn a lot about viewpoints at the time around ratification of the constitution.
 
If anyone has a favorite book related to that time period, the founding fathers, etc. post it up and give me some ideas.
Click to expand...


Rick,

John Adams

by David McCullough

Time Best Nonfiction Book of the Year in 2001

My wife recommended it after I read her your post. My sons gave it to her one Christmas. She says it's excellent.
 
I kept turning it..then started watching..I think number 6.....then I sat down and pretty much watched the marathon. They bounced around a bit and I got lost a few times but it was a very good show. I don't know how much artistic license was used in it but the main jist was there. That Abigail sure pulled a lot of weight and when his daughter had a mastectomy it realllllllly brought to bare how well off we are today.
 
Abigail Adams was amazing. Period, paragraph. Another "footnote" the public schools didn't exactly take the time to mention.

As far as medicine...if you watched their encounter with the British warship on the way to France or his daughter's mastectomy, I am pretty sure you would be thanking your stars for modern medicine. There are times when I think it would have been interesting to have lived at that point and witnessed some of the events, but I get reminded of how harsh life really was.

I really thought it was timely, given the events going on around us. The fears they had of starting a republic, and whether or not it was such a great idea. The battles over incurring a national debt, and taxation of the people (something they just fought against) to repay it. The ability of people to both vote and govern in the best interest of their countrymen rather than their own self-interest.
 
Rick,

I really enjoyed the Willarard Sterne Randall books on Jefferson and Washington. I much prefered them to Mcullogh's book on Adams. This maybe due to the fact that they are southerners and Adams was a yankee. Both books due a good job of showing what life was like and the economic pressures that both Jefferson and Washington were under and the fact they truly bet the house during the revolution.

ISBN-10: 0060976179

ISBN-10: 080505992X

My best,

Don
 
My mother was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and had our ancestry traced all the way back to stepping off the boat in the late 1600's and then to Scotland. One thing she discovered that showed how challenging it was to become a new nation and commit treason was an episode a great uncle decribed in his journal from that period. Seems he was elected to be the caommander of the local militia since he was the only one with a horse. So off to war these farmers go, all 15 or so.
They march proudly out of town, through the woods and into the edge of a large meadow. On the other side is the enemy. All 400 redcoats. So this uncle looks down at his comrades and says, "Boys, I've got 7 children at home to feed and a new crop to tend. Let me know how it went." And with that they all filtered back tothe farms.
I truely think that our founding fathers, with their sef taught education and precious few resources were unbelievable in their forethought, courage, self reliance and ambition. Could we do that now? i don't know.

I've talked with others about those guys, and I point out why so many signed the Declaration with such large Signatures. They were taunting the British, saying, "Yeh it's me, come on and just try and take me".
 
Kevin,

I was glad to read you got your pup back. I lost your email in a computer melt down. Will you please resend it to me.

My best,

Don
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top