“John Adams: A Life” is the fifth of nearly a dozen books authored by John Ferling, who has written extensively on the revolutionary era and several of its most important figures. This biography was first published in 1992 and has received consistently high marks since, although its popularity has faded somewhat in recent years as several additional biographies of our second president have been published.

Ferling’s biography of John Adams is almost the perfect balance of detail versus brevity, of hard facts prudently dosed with the author’s opinions and conclusions.  The author’s descriptive capability was on consistent display and set the context in most scenes magnificently. Much to my surprise, as this is the fourth book on Adams I’ve read thus far, Ferling provides relevant and interesting insights throughout the book that I do not recall encountering elsewhere.

In contrast to his more recent biography of George Washington, Ferling’s work on Adams is not only thorough and colorful, but also well-balanced and non-combative…

– Click here for the full review at BestPresidentialBios.com –