Samuel Adams
A Life
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $27.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Paul Boehmer
-
By:
-
Ira Stoll
About this listen
And yet history has neglected him; today Samuel Adams is best known as a brand of beer. As relations with Great Britain healed in the 19th century, historians were all too willing to dismiss him as a zealot; Adams's distrust of secularism (he envisioned America as a "Christian Sparta") has not endeared him to many contemporary scholars, either. Ira Stoll's fascinating biography not only restores this figure to his rightful place in history but portrays him as a man of God whose skepticism of a powerful central government, uncompromising support for freedom of the press, concern about the influence of money on elections, voluble love of liberty, and selfless endurance in a war for freedom has enormous relevance to Americans today.
©2008 Ira Stoll (P)2008 TantorEditorial reviews
Ira Stoll places Samuel Adams, the "forgotten Founding Father," in historical context, delving into how his Puritan sensibilities informed his vision of independence. Paul Boehmer competently handles the task of narrating extended passages of Adams's writings in the slightly foreign-sounding English of the Colonial period, although his attempts to give a British accent to British quotes detract from the overall delivery. With its overabundance of repetitive text, listening to this work is often tediously reminiscent of a college history course, but the importance of this "apostle of liberty" and his influence on our national psyche make this chapter of American history vital to understanding how the past informs our present and our view of ourselves as God's new "chosen people."