Samuel Adams: America's Revolutionary Politician (American Profiles) [Paperback]

John K. Alexander (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 074252115X | ISBN-13: 978-0742521155 | Publication Date: February 2004

Samuel Adams: America's Revolutionary Politician offers a fresh full-life biography of the man Thomas Jefferson once described as the helmsman of the American Revolution. In his study, historian John K. Alexander uses narrative history to argue that Samuel Adams was both America's first professional politician and it's first modern politician. Adams, Alexander argues, was an unwavering politician who strove to protect the people's basic rights and who emphasized the importance of virtue, liberty, a sense of duty, and education in fashioning a republican society. John Alexander's fresh reading of Adams' record, and a uniquely close look into his personal life, uncovers a masterful politician and a man consistent in his beliefs.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is a deep, solid, well researched, and highly readable work of history. I am particularly impressed by Alexander's contribution to the history of the Boston 'mob' in the American Revolution. Criticizing the 'myopic' views of those at the time (as well as more recent scholars) who saw the crowd as manipulated and propagandized by Adams, he gives due credit to Adams's role while nonetheless presenting us with a crowd with agency and a mind of its own. (Jesse Lemisch )

John K. Alexander has written an intelligent, thoughtful, and concise biography of one of the most important leaders of the revolutionary generation. (Ellis, Richard E. )

It is chock full of original research and fresh observations on moments in Massachusetts's revolutionary struggle. (Pennsylvania Magazine Of History And Biography )

A sparkling biography of a street-level politician who battled in the trenches for the American Revolution. (Paul Green )

About the Author

John K. Alexander is professor at the University of Cincinnati where he specializes in American revolutionary era history. Along with a number of scholarly articles, he has authored Render Them Submissive: Responses to Poverty in Philadelphia, 1760-1800.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074252115X
• ISBN-13: 978-0742521155
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,816,481 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well-Written Political Biography, November 28, 2004

By 

Steve Fast (Hillsboro, KS, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Samuel Adams: America's Revolutionary Politician (American Profiles) (Hardcover)

This biography focuses on the political life of Samuel Adams and his key role in leading Massachusetts to rebel against Britain to protect its liberties. Little is written about Adams' personal or family life and the coverage of his participation in the Continental Congresses is also slim, apparently due to a lack of sources, since Adams destroyed most of his correspondence and Congressional deliberations were secret. There are issues that I wished would have been discussed in more detail, e.g. the author has only a limited discussion of Adams' alleged role in replacing Washington as commander-in-chief (apparently a canard spread by his enemies).

The author explains well the development and sources of Adams' political philosophy and how it guided his actions before, during, and after the Revolution.

The prose is well-written with many short quotations from Adams. Overall, an informative and fairly interesting biography of a key and often overlooked figure of the American Revolution.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A spellbinding biography of America's greatest political warrior, July 31, 2005

By 

J Michael Waller "www.iwp.edu" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Samuel Adams: America's Revolutionary Politician (American Profiles) (Paperback)

Samuel Adams comes alive in John K. Alexander's enthralling biography of the pioneer of American political warfare.

Separating myth (that Adams operated by mob rule) from reality, Alexander carefully shows how the Boston patriot - steeped in the ancient classics, John Locke and an abiding Christian faith - combined reason, rhetoric, political organization and perseverence to achieve the goal he arguably founded of American independence.

Alexander's book chronicles how Adams pioneered modern political agitprop by organizing the Committees of Correspondence to link Massachusetts towns, sympathizers in Europe and ultimately all the 13 colonies in a communications underground. It describes Adams' masterful political takeovers of town and colonial legislatures, hugely successful political theater, economic warfare, social stigmatization of enemy collaborators, and the creation of extralegal parallel institutions that usurped political power from the crown and empowered the common citizen.

Adams is an underappreciated Founding Father: he helped pen the Declaration of Independence, served on the Constitutional convention and almost singlehandedly wrote the original language of much of the Bill of Rights. Alexander acknowledges Adams' human flaws while demonstrating how the Boston revolutionary remained true to his beliefs for half a century without seeking personal profit or aggrandizement.

The book is unfortunately lacking in footnotes and it paraphrases Adams more than it quotes him, though it contains a substantial bibliographical essay.

Alexander has authored an important biography of the founder of American political warfare. He is one of the few Adams scholars who gets the nuances about Samuel's political warfare genius. In reading the book, one understands Thomas Jefferson's emphatic comment that, if anyone was the helmsman of the American Revolution, "Samuel Adams was the man."