A BRAND NEW York Times Publication Review Notable Reserve of 2017

From the fantastic historian from the American Revolution, New York Times-bestselling and Pulitzer-winning Gordon Wood, comes a majestic dual biography of two of America’s most enduringly fascinating numbers, whose collaboration helped birth a nation, and whose subsequent falling out in clumps did much to repair its course.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams could scarcely have come from more different worlds, or been even more different in character..Read More approximately Close friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson Jefferson, the optimist with enough faith in the innate goodness of his fellow man to be democracy’s champion, was an aristocratic Southern slaveowner, even though Adams, the overachiever from New England’s rising middling classes, painfully conscious he was no aristocrat, was a skeptic about popular rule and a defender of a more elitist view of authorities. They worked closely in the crucible of revolution, crafting the Declaration of Self-reliance and leading, with Franklin, the diplomatic effort that brought France into the battle. But eventually, their profound distinctions would lead to a fundamental crisis, in their friendship and in the nation writ large, as they became the figureheads of two completely new forces, the first American political parties. It was a bitter breach, long lasting through the presidential administrations of both guys, and beyond.

But later in existence, something remarkable occurred: both of these men were nudged into reconciliation. What began like a grudging trickle of correspondence became an excellent flood, and a companionship was rekindled, over the course of hundreds of letters. In their final years they were the last making it through founding fathers and cherished their role in this mighty young republic since it contacted the half hundred years mark in 1826. Finally, on the afternoon of July 4th, 50 years to the day after the putting your signature on of the Declaration, Adams let out a sigh and stated, ‘At least Jefferson still lives.’ He passed away soon thereafter. Actually, a few hours earlier on that same time, far south in his home in Monticello, Jefferson died as well.

Arguably no relationship within this country’s history carries as much freight mainly because that of John Adams of Massachusetts and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Gordon Wood has more than done justice to these entwined lives and their signifying; he has created a magnificent new addition to America’s collective tale.