Books in Brief
John Adams: Party of One by James Grant (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 540 pp., $30) "The history of our Revolution will be one continued lie from one end to the other," John Adams complained in 1790. "The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin's electrical rod smote the Earth and out sprung General Washington"--and that "these two conducted all the policy, negotiations, legislatures and war."
It would be a lie, in other words, because it wouldn't say enough about Adams, despite his essential service as a revolutionary, political theorist (an ardent exponent of balancing and frustrating power--the model adopted in the U.S. Constitution), diplomat, and, eventually, president. Adams's gnawing conviction that posterity would underrate his contribution proved all too prescient, at least for two centuries. But in the "Founders boom" of recent years, his reputation has undergone an astonishing transformation--capped, in 2001, by David McCullough's beautifully written but hagiographic-trending blockbuster John Adams.
Now comes a new volume, James Grant's John Adams: Party of One, that faithfully restores many of the great man's warts. On the second page of text, Grant quotes Franklin's famous take on Adams: "He means well for his country, is always an honest man, often a wise one, but sometimes, and in some things, is absolutely out of his senses." With wit and charm, covering an extraordinarily rich life in a brisk 540 pages, Grant explains why there was much to Ben Franklin's gloss.
Of course, the Adams that emerges is all the more interesting and endearing for it. He is, by far, the most approachable of the Founders because he could not help revealing his heart in wonderfully pithy sentences. Adams confessed he lacked "the gift of silence" that had served Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin so well. We are the beneficiaries of that failing, and Grant sprinkles Adams's tart phrases on almost every page.
By the same token, Grant supports his contention that "in great matters John Adams could exhibit all the wisdom, forbearance, and charity for which he justly deserves to be honored." Here is the Adams who fought, as president, for peace through strength; who defied his cabinet in commuting the death penalty of a tax rebel; who moved steadily toward religious tolerance. Grant, a financial writer (editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer), is especially strong in describing the debt-hating Puritan's success as a "junk bond promoter" in raising money for his struggling young country. One gets the sense that old Adams, his own harshest critic and biggest fan, would appreciate Grant's shrewd and witty treatment.
--Edward Achorn
The Essential Ronald Reagan by Lee Edwards (Rowman and Littlefield, 176 pp., $19.95) Reagan scholar Lee Edwards offers a brief, anecdotal profile of the 40th president in his new book The Essential Ronald Reagan. Edwards begins by outlining Reagan's life from his humble roots in Illinois through his Hollywood career and eventual emergence as a national conservative icon. He then devotes several sections to the Cold War and touches on tax reform, abortion, and welfare.
Throughout the book, much of Edwards's focus remains on Reagan's remarkable leadership and character. For Edwards, Reagan's success in office rested on exactly these traits--his courage after the 1981 assassination attempt; his prudence in crafting a Cold War strategy that was pivotal to bringing down the Soviet Empire; and his insistence on wide-ranging domestic reforms.
Edwards also takes note of Reagan's famous sense of humor by sprinkling in some of his famous quips, like telling Mrs. Reagan, "Honey, I forgot to duck," when she arrived at the hospital after he'd been shot. Or, while on the operating table, saying to doctors, "I hope you're all Republicans."
As Edwards rightly notes, Reagan is an "American for the ages."
--Loredana Vuoto