Publishers Weekly
09/07/2020
Historian and novelist Groom (The Allies) delivers an entertaining group portrait of founding fathers Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams and their disputes over how to balance federal and state power in the American system of government. Groom’s colorful and evenhanded presentation highlights Adams’s irritability and intelligence, Hamilton’s idealistic streak and tendency toward pomposity, and Jefferson’s habit of envisioning himself as a man of the people, despite his erudition and taste for “elegant objects.” Though Groom documents their widely divergent backgrounds (Hamilton was a Caribbean immigrant born out of wedlock; Jefferson was an aristocratic Southerner; Adams was descended from the Puritans) and fierce disagreements (Hamilton’s pamphlet attacking John Adams may have contributed to Jefferson taking the presidency from Adams in 1801), he pays particular attention to their fierce commitment to the good of the nation. Though readers well-versed in American history won’t learn a great deal new, Groom spins his familiar tale with aplomb. This solid history reveals that the art of compromise is an essential ingredient in American democracy. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
"Like Groom’s other works, [this book] stands or falls on the author’s talent for weaving engaging stories for the general reader. Here is where Groom shines. “Hamilton, Jefferson, and Adams made the country what it is today, and their dust still sparkles like stars in the minds of their fellow Americans,” he concludes. Groom bequeathed his readers an entertaining take on the intellectual war that shaped our nation."—The Wall Street Journal
“[Groom’s] mastery of plot and storytelling leaves him inordinately well-disposed to piece together the tangled mass of major battles and peashooter skirmishes.”—Chicago Tribune
“Groom brings the novelist’s touch to history.”—Associated Press
“Groom narrates in a genial, almost conversational way, making all the twists and turns completely understandable. When he narrows the focus, the action comes alive.”—Washington Post
“Readers of all his fiction and nonfiction might well feel inclined to testify that he is fast becoming a national treasure.”—The Advocate
“Winston Groom has that most enviable gift as a writer, an instantly likable voice… he also possesses a remarkable historical imagination… capable of bringing a neglected or half-forgotten moment bursting noisily back to life.”—The Wilson Quarterly
Kirkus Reviews
2020-10-08
The late novelist and popular historian revisits the Revolutionary era.
Groom (1943-2020) has fashioned another broad historical chronicle for a general readership, presenting parallel biographies of the three Founding Fathers who were integral to the creation of the American republican government—when no one could be sure it was going to take. As he has demonstrated in his many books of history and fiction, the author is a natural storyteller, choosing relevant engrossing details about each character amid the myriad historical detail. His account of Alexander Hamilton's early life story, which opens the book, proves most compelling. Unlike John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who were favored sons from wealthy, well-regarded families, Hamilton was born "out of wedlock" in the Caribbean, and his mother died when he and his brother were teenagers, leaving them “for all intents and purposes…orphans.” Groom shows how Hamilton’s intelligence and alacrity—not to mention some luck—gained him powerful protectors and mentors early on. After arrival in the U.S., he received a first-class education and apprenticed with Gen. George Washington, and his fierce sense of honor, writes the author, “became a major feature of his character.” By Groom’s account, Adams comes across as the least personally appealing of the three despite his intellectual abilities. However, his sense of loyalty to country and family emerges beautifully in selections from voluminous letters to his beloved wife, Abigail. Jefferson's story will be the most familiar to readers, and Groom adds little to the record. But the author effectively demonstrates how their battles with one another drove them forward and honed their political ideologies—yet never derailed them from their determination to forge the American nation when the prospects did not look promising.
A useful selection for libraries because it imparts a solid civics lesson within an engaging historical narrative.
