*Weaves the lives of John and Samuel Adams into one entertaining and educational narrative.
*Includes several quotes and writings from both John and Samuel.
*Analyzes their relationship, political collaboration and later political rivalry.
*Includes pictures of John, Samuel, and important people, places, and events in their lives.
*Includes a Bibliography for further reading.
Throughout the 1760s, colonial Boston was the principal thorn in the side of the British Empire, as British authorities constantly had to try to quell unrest over a series of taxes implemented against the colonies to try to finance the Seven Years War. At the heart of it all were two cousins, Samuel Adams and John Adams, who were destined to be two of Massachusetts and the American Revolution's most important figures.
The American Revolution had no shortage of compelling characters with seemingly larger than life traits, including men like the multi-talented Benjamin Franklin, the wise Thomas Jefferson, the mercurial John Adams and the stoic George Washington. But no Revolutionary leader has been as controversial as Samuel Adams, who has been widely portrayed over the last two centuries as America's most radical and fiery colonist.
Among his contemporaries, Samuel was viewed as one of the most influential colonial leaders, a man Thomas Jefferson himself labeled "truly the Man of the Revolution" and the one who the Boston Gazette eulogized as the "Father of the American Revolution." Adams was an outspoken opponent of British taxes in the 1760s, one of Boston's hardest working writers and orators, a leader of the Boston Caucus, active in the Sons of Liberty, and a political leader who organized large gatherings in settings like Faneuil Hall and the Old South Meeting House. When cousin John Adams was an Ambassador to France during the Revolution, he had to explain that he was not the "famous" Adams.
John Adams has become one of the more popular presidents in history relatively recently, but it was not always so. For most of his life he was seen as a bit of an outsider, different from his fellow first presidents in his temperament, birth, life and politics. Adams and his son were the only presidents out of the first seven who were born north of the Mason Dixon line, and he was not an easy man to understand or work with. Not only did he have few friends, but he also often fell into long term quarrels with those he had.
Adams remained a celebrated figure in Boston for all the work he did in Massachusetts before and after the Revolution, but his national reputation has experienced quite a renaissance over the past decade, beginning with David Mccullough's best selling biography in 2001, followed in 2008 by the popular HBO series based on it. Then, in 2010, Dearest Friend, a record of the correspondence between Adams and his wife Abigail solidified his position as one of the most darling Founding Fathers of the 21st Century.
Revolutionary Cousins chronicles the amazing lives and work of the American Revolution's most famous cousins, examining their relationship, collaboration, and legacies. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in his life, you will learn about Samuel and John Adams like you never have before, in no time at all.