Next Daily Excerpt:
Next book in my American history section is John Adams
You know, I read a lot of biographies and most of them are kinda crappy. I read them for the TOPIC mainly. I have a crappy biography of Gary Cooper – which is written so salaciously and so badly (I mean, it’s also so much fun) – but I have it because I love Gary Cooper, and there are some great anecdotes in there. But sometimes a biography comes along (and it’s very rarely) that re-defines the entire genre, raises the bar, throws down a gauntlet to other writers – whatever you want to call it. And it’s a short short list. When book reviewers talk about high-water-mark biographies there aren’t many on their list. The same titles referenced over and over: Juliet Barker’s The Brontes
I LOVED McCullough’s book. I love him, in general.
My whole family read this book (naturally – we’re all such Adams freaks) … and I remember Siobhan and I just LAUGHING about the anecdote in the following excerpt. It’s my favorite anecdote in the whole book. I just love the image of it so much that it almost makes me nervous.
It’s from 1776. The Declaration has been signed. There was the disastrous battle of Long Island (disastrous for the rebels, I mean) … when Washington, in the dead of night, removed his troops across the Hudson. A retreat. Adams, when he heard the news, replied, “In general our generals were outgeneralled.”
Lord Howe requests a conference with some of the delegates of the Continental Congress – who were all in Philadelphia. Adams was unanimously chosen as one of the delegates who should go (the conference was going to be on Staten Island). Benjamin Franklin was also chosen – and Edward Rutledge.
What happens on the journey just … I picture it and I just LOVE IT. Thank God these guys kept diaries.
From John Adams
They were to meet His Lordship on Staten Island, and on the morning of September 9, in “fine sunshine”, they set off, the whole city aware of what was happening. Franklin and Rutledge each rode in a high, two-wheeled chaise, accompanied by a servant. Adams went on horseback, accompanied by Joseph Bass. Congress, in the meanwhile, could only sit and wait, while in New York the admiral’s brother, General Howe, temporarily suspended operations against the rebels.
Free of the city, out of doors and riding again, Adams felt a wave of relief from his cares and woes, even to the point of finding Edward Rutledge an acceptable companion. The road across New Jersey was filled with soldiers marching to join Washington, mainly Pensylvania men in long, brown coats. But for the “straggling and loitering” to be seen, it would have been an encouraging spectacle.
The journey consumed two days. With the road crowded, progress was slow and dusty. At New Brunswick, the inn was so full, Adams and Franklin had to share the same bed in a tiny room with only one small window. Before turning in, when Adams moved to close the window against the night air, Franklin objected, declaring they would suffocate. Contrary to convention, Franklin believed in the benefits of fresh air at night and had published his theories on the question. “People often catch cold from one another when shut up together in small close rooms,” he had written, stressing “it is the frowzy corrupt air from animal substances, and the perspired matter from our bodies, which, being long confined in beds not lately used, and clothes not lately worn … obtains that kind of putridity which infects us, and occasions the colds observed upon sleeping in, wearing, or turning over, such beds [and] clothes.” He wished to have the window remain open, Franklin informed Adams.
“I answered that I was afraid of the evening air,” Adams would write, recounting the memorable scene. “Dr. Franklin replied, ‘The air within this chamber will soon be, and indeed is now worse than that without doors. Come, open the window and come to bed, and I will convince you. I believe you are not acquainted with my theory of colds.’ ” Adams assured Franklin he had read his theories; they did not match his own experience, Adams said, but he would be glad to hear them again.
So the two eminent bedfellows lay side-by-side in the dark, the window open, Franklin expounding, as Adams remembered, “upon air and cold and respiration and perspiration, with which I was so much amused that I soon fell asleep.”
i remember us laughign about ben franklin being like, “hey, let’s just use bow and arrows in the war!” and john adams being like, “what the…?” so funny. i so associate this book with sunapee. and carrying it in my bag and it not fitting.
That’s amazing…Franklin was nosing around in the general vicinity of germ theory.
Apropos of nothing, I had to buy stamps yesterday, and I asked for the Ben Franklin set. Got the last one at the postal counter. :-)
siobhan – hahahahaha I looked for the bow and arrow reference this morning because I wanted to post that- but I couldn’t find it.
John was like: “Uhm, Ben? We have cannons and guns now. Mkay?”
hahahahaha
I remember when you were reading the book and it was so huge, and finally by the end of the book, you were like: “I am so excited to not have to carry this 20 pound book around anymore.”
Thank God you weren’t reading it during the transit strike when you ran over the Queensboro Bridge like a maniac!
can you imagine if when i heard johnny d. was being traded through that cab window and i screamed “NOOOOO!!!!” and then ripped off my backpack and held the “John Adams” book over my head as the passengers inside looked on and like lightening struck and all of a sudden i was backlit? hahahaha
It’s like a scene out of Stephen King’s The Stand or something.
A lunatic Red Sox fan wielding a biography of John Adams as a weapon – as she tries to flee over the Queensboro Bridge.
hahaha! exactly.
Another great thing about McCullough’s book is that you can hear his wonderful voice in your head as you read it.
Steve on the mountain
I’m not a big revolutionary war girl, but I found McCullough’s 1776 to be very enjoyable. I only fell asleep a few times. ;) That it’s not a behemoth of a book is in its favor.
While it’s capable of standing alone, he says in the author’s notes that it’s actually meant to be a companion piece to John Adams—apparently he’d done SO much research for the Adams book that he had enough for another. It captures the year very well and really gets into detail about Washington’s relationship with Greene and Knox.
You should check it out if you haven’t already.
Kathy – i am excited to read that one!
I spent a few hours going through your book posts after salivating over pics of your shelves and stumbled across this. I admit I’m not that familiar with biographies, but this is easily the finest of the ones I’ve read. There are several ways in which a bio can go wrong: they can be under-researched, too biased, unfocused. I’ve even read one or two which are thick on detail and display an astonishing level of research but never work as a book, as if the author made reference material instead of a portrait.
I’m so glad you excerpted the part you did, as it’s also one of my favorite bits. I kept flashing between visions of an old married duo (specifically George’s parents on Seinfeld, for some reason) and The Odd Couple. The thought of two of this country’s most important framers having a pleasant but mildly passive-aggressive argument over an open window is one of the finest bits of comedy I’ve come across in a while.
The one aspect that really caught my eye, though, even above the incredible and unsung contributions he made to founding this nation and then keeping it going is simply the nature of his relationship with Abigail. I had read of a few of their letters — though surprisingly not the “remember the ladies” one, considering its deserved popularity — but I never knew just how much they relied on each other. I’m something of a hopeless romantic, and the fact that John referred to Abigail as “My friend” is maybe the most touching thing…ever?
But even above the details, the sheer pacing and framing of John Adams is absolutely worth as much as the intimidating research he put into this. This is readable, damn readable. I thought it was going to take me a few weeks to go through but I read it in about three days because it moved so smoothly.