John Adams

Updated June 26, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

For those readers who prefer to remain grounded in nonfiction even when escapism is beckoning, John Adams, by Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer David McCullough (Truman), proves thoroughly satisfying. The author delves deeply into both the mind and political life of the Federalist, revealing a man who considered “the long struggle for independence” more defining than his role as president. The book pays particular attention to the complicated relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Adams, co-revolutionaries whose relationship soured as the party system flourished. McCullough delivers an epic that is steeped in fact but flows like a novel.