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The story of one of the most important -- and most elusive -- figures of the American Revolution, Samuel Adams traces the life of the "Man of the Revolution," as he was called by Thomas Jefferson, from his childhood as a fifth-generation New Englander to his pivotal role in the Boston Tea Party and war that followed to a life spent in public service. Benjamin Irvin explores the fascinating contradictions of Samuel Adams's life: he was born into a family of high rank, but lived a humble, almost impoverished life; he could barely manage his personal household, but brilliantly managed the Massachusetts House of Representatives; he pushed for the Revolution, but resisted the Constitution; he spearheaded resistance to the English government but staunchly opposed resistance to the U.S. government. A perceptive look at the life of a complex man, Samuel Adams is an evocative portrait of one of our nation's most interesting Founding Fathers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Much More Than a Great Beer Maker!
There are literally hundreds of volumes written on John Adams, but only a handful on his equally important founding cousin, Samuel. This book, SAMUEL ADAMS, SON OF LIBERTY, FATHER OF REVOLUTION, by Benjamin Irvin, is a fine place to learn about the forgotten Adams.

The book begins with a detailed instruction of life in Puritan New England in the 1700's. The book details how Samuel's father, himself a brewer, lost most of his fortune in a banking scheme.This event led the way for Samuel's distrust of British government.

Irvin devotes the major part of the book to a portrayal of the role Adams played in the events leading to the American Revolution. The author details such events as Adams protests against the Stamp Act and Townsend Duties and Adams inevitable rise to popularity with his involvement in organizations and events such as the Sons of Liberty, organizing boycotts of British goods, and writing petitions and resolutions of protest.

Irvin depicts Adams, as he should be, at the center of revolutionary activity protesting the Boston massacre, proposing the "committees of correspondence," and helping initiate the Boston Tea Party. Adams also served in the 1st and 2nd Continental Congress and was a signor of the Declaration of Independence.

In the post-revolution era, Irvin tells of Adams reluctant work in the ratification of the Constitution.Adams somewhat feared the powers being granted the federal government, but gave in to the federalists arguments.

Irvin concludes by telling us that Adams was the single most instrumental person in making the revolution a reality. This brief book is one of the better works available on the life and times of Samuel Adams.
... Read more

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A biography of the Massachusetts radical whose belief in forceful protest against injustice made him one of the leaders of the Revolution. ... Read more

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A slight figure clad in a threadbare coat, Samuel Adams was an unlikely portrait of a dangerous revolutionary. The man who would later be called the Father of the American Revolution, however, worked tirelessly behind the scenes to achieve the goal of American independence, uniting his genius for words and his passion for politics to urge countless numbers toward revolution. In this insightful biography, Dennis Brindell Fradin traces Adams's life from boyhood to his two terms as one of Massachusetts's most senior senators, for a thoughtful and dramatic account of the pioneer whose indomitable spirit shaped the national character of what would become the United States. Author's note, bibliography, index. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Samual Adams
Seeing some of the things he did, in the light of the modern media, shows it's not just a modern problem. Mr Adams would make things up to incite the colonies to rebel.

Highly recommend this one
This was a great book for a teenager or an adult looking for a fairly quick overview of the life and work of Samuel Adams.I read it in a few nights, and several house guests enjoyed it as well.Anyone with an interest in the American Revolution, and the ideas that inspired it, will benefit greatly from this book.This book makes me want to read more, which I'd say is a good thing.

Reading some other comments, I will note that the portrayal of Samuel Adams as a terrorist is wildly unfair and unfounded (this is not the assertion of this book's author, by the way, but other historians have made this point).Rabble-rouser?Yes.Revolutionary?Of course!But, from what I've read, some have tried to connect every barbarous tar and feathering, every street fight in Boston over the course of a decade, to Samuel Adams, because of his leadership status in the city, but this is without evidence and fits a "neat" template of those that wish to paint a certain picture of this man.God only knows the full story, but don't believe assertions that are not based on fact!

The Odor of Sanctity
This is a biography of Samuel Adams for young readers and it is, quite properly, a "hagiography" - the tale of a saintly hero of radical values, including freedom and social equality. Adams's unhesitating commitment to the cause of American Independence is aligned with his opposition to the slave trade and to other acceptable socially liberal positions. On that basis, it's a fine book for those young readers, especially those whose parents or teachers have tried to tell them that the American Revolution was essentially conservative.

However, not only was the American Revolution fomented and conducted on radical anti-hierarchical principles, but also leaders like Sam Adams and John Hancock were far from temporizing conservatives. The shortcoming of this book is the failure to accurately portray the "extremism" of the Sons of Liberty, not just in Massachusetts but throughout the thirteen colonies. Adams's leading role in the Sons of Liberty is qualified and minimized, and his role in the destruction of property called The Boston Tea Party is made to seem quite jolly and respectable. (Take a look at the book "The Shoemaker and the Tea Party'). The effigy burnings, the ransacking of government officials' homes, the brawls in the street, the burning of the British ship Gaspee, etc. before 1774 were followed, in the early years of the Revolution, by tar-and-featherings, arson, and innumerable acts of intimidation directed against "loyalists" and legal British authorities, as the Sons of Liberty transformed themselves in "Committees on Safety". In short, the American Revolution was launched by a calculated campaign of terrorism, and Samuel Adams was the Founding Terrorist.

Time to rinse off the whitewash!

Sam Adams - Light, Refreshing, and now you don't have to be 21
I'll admit that I picked Sam Adams to do my report on for my American Political Thought class because well, the man made beer! But as it turns out he not only made beer but he founded the United States as well. WHO KNEW?! Here I thought I was buying this book to learn about a totally rock'n dude that partied with Spud McKenzie and George Washington and I got a well devised thesis of an extraordinary man's life. I would recommend buying the book and drinking it up.

Rabble Rouser.
Who would have thought that a man with such an image was a gang leader, an instigator, a trouble maker and by todays standards could be charged as a terrorist.This was Samuel Adams as this biography tells it.This shows that one man's terrorist is another man's hero.It is amazing that Samuel could get so many people to follow him in such an idealistic venture as a countries independence.I do not think he could do it today, in America, because of the attitude of the populace.We are complacent now, maybe then they weren't.I think the were of the bent of Australian prisoners in Australia.They would fight over the smallest thing, thinking they were being persecuted.It is a well written book full of the history of one man who will live in history. ... Read more

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Brief, paperback biography that discusses former U.S. president Samuel Adams. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

very interesting
I had to read this book for a history 101 class. I enjoyed reading it. It is very interesting.

Samuel Adams Is Here to Stay?(In History Of-course!)
Here it goes!You are about to read and comprehend a facinating book.That is the book of the world that Samuel Adams had and belive me this book is so great that I have already read it 30 times.I love it so much that when my friends have a BIG essay and help them study about Samuel Adams and they read it and this is their exppressions,"Wow! Girl friend,Why you didn't tell me of this incredible book.All of my entire family have read this incredible novel.this same expression came on their face.Radical Puritan by Lillan M.Fowler, William M. JR. Fowler, Oscar Handlin,is a novel of Samuel Adam's life.This novel tell from how he became an original born baby to a very onorable man.Samuel Adam was born in Boston,Massachusetts on September 27,1722. He was a leader of the fight against British colonial rule,and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Adams was a cousin o John Adams who became President of the Unted States.

Samuel Adams graduated from Harvard College with a Master of Arts degree in 1743.After college he entered private business,and throght out this period was an outspoken

A good factual account but not the spirit ...
Samuel Adams: Radical Puritan recounts the major events in it's subject'slife, but doesn't leave you with a feeling about the essence of the man.Sam Adams does not speak for himself enough via quotes from his ownwritings.The coverage of the Sons of Liberty is reduced to 13 superficialpages.It does provide a glimpse of an old revolutionary not changing withthe times after the war has been won.But it is not the full colorportrait of a life like thatVan Doren has provided for Benjamin Franklin. ... Read more

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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 Samue ... Read more

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A spellbinding biography of America's greatest political warrior
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."

Well-Written Political Biography
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. ... Read more

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A biography of the patriot, Samuel Adams, from his religious upbringing and education to his important role in the American Revolution. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Amazon got the title wrong
Probably explaining why there have been no reviews. The title is, Sam Adams's Revolution (1765-1776). Plus the book was published in the 70's.

This is a fairly ordinary book about an extra-ordinary individual. Historians seem to split into two camps. One camp chooses to ignore Sam Adams while the other camp states that there would have been no revolution without Samuel Adams. The latter camp is closer to accurate. Sam was actually considerably more famous than John Adams into the 1780's. John made his relation to Sam a key point of his 1800 presidential campaign vs Jefferson. Yet Samuels grave was unmarked for decades.

This book excels in painting a fairly vivid portrayal of the lives and culture of colonial America. It is as much a history of the revolution as a biography of Sam Adams. ... Read more

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Presents a biography of the Massachusetts radical whose belief in forceful protest against injustice made him one of the leaders of the American Revolution. ... Read more

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Samuel Adams helped fight for American independence. This biography spanning his lifetime concentrates on the work he did to make life better for himself and other Americans. Can you imagine what his life must have been like? Find out why Samuel had money

... Read more

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Samuel Adams is known as the Father of the American Revolution. Young readers will gain insight and knowledge into the buildup to revolution in America and the important role that Samuel Adams played in it and in what came after, the start of a new nation. ... Read more

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Reintroducing young readers to the patriot, Samuel Adams
I have little doubt that to most American students the name Sam Adams is associated with a brand of beer and not with the man who was considered the Father of the American Revolution.In this juvenile biography for the Our People series Ann Heinrichs tries to set the record straight.Yes, Samuel Adams's father, also named Samuel, did own a brewery, but before presenting that fact Heinrichs sets up the book's thesis that while Samuel Adams was famous in his time as one of America's Founding Fathers, today he is one of the least famous members of that group, mainly because after the war was over he slipped back into the background while others sought political office and debated the Federal Constitution (such as Samuel Adams's second cousin John, who because the first vice president and second president of the United States).

The first chapter of this book introduces Samuel Adams as "The Man Who Started Fires," recalling the famous description of him by Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson as "the greatest incendiary in the Empire."Heinrichs develops the background of Adams and his distinguished Massachusetts family, including how the family brewery was lost after his father died in 1748.Chapter Two, "Stirring Up Trouble" covers the period up to the Boston Massacre, as Adams became a leader of the Sons of Liberty.Chapter Three, "Father of the Revolution," details his activities with the Committee of Correspondence and the first two Continental Congresses.The final chapter, "A New Nation Takes Shape," explains how Adams refused to attend the Constitutional Convention because he wanted the states to be stronger than the federal government.He even wanted to vote against his cousin in the 1796 election but was defeated in his effort to become a presidential elector.

Hopefully this book will convince a fair share of young readers that Samuel Adams was an important Founding Father along with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington.Certainly Heinrichs makes the case for him being on that level, although for most people today he is considered the lesser of the two Adamses from Massachusetts.The volume is illustrated with paintings, etchings, and such from that period as well as a contemporary photograph of the statue of Samuel Adams in front of Boston's Faneuil Hall.There are sidebars on the Adams Family the Boston Massacre, and an Eyewitness Report on the Boston Tea Party, and you will find the usual Interesting Facts in the margins of the book. The Our People series, which excludes American presidents since they have their own series, also has volumes on Alexander Hamilton, Franklin, John Paul Jones, and Patrick Henry from this pivotal period of American history. ... Read more

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A biography of the patriot and politician whose speeches, writings, and activities, including the Boston Tea Party, helped stir up the colonists against Great Britain. ... Read more

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In the early days of America when men wore ruffles, rode horseback, and obeyed the King, there lived a man in Boston who cared for none of these things. No one expected Samuel Adams to wear ruffles or pledge allegiance to the King of England, but his friends did think that he might get on a horse. But would he? Never! he said. An ALA Notable Children's Book. Full color.Amazon.com Review
Let the others wear the ruffled shirts and ride grandly onhorseback; Sam Adams, Massachusetts rebel leader, was a plain andplain-spoken fellow, both in history and in Why Don't You Get aHorse, Sam Adams? Adams, it turns out, was horseless for a goodreason. On the way to figuring out just what that reason was, thereader gets a nice, personal look at a leader and his times.

In this book, as in the rest of her series ofhistories, Jean Fritz sneaks plenty of information into her storyabout Adams, the American Revolution, and the answer to the titlequestion. (For ages 7 and up) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Warts and all!
Oliver Cromwell wanted Sir Peter Lely to paint him "warts and all," showing who he really was. Jean Fritz's wonderful biography, Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams? apparently does the same for a Founding Father.

Sam Adams' attitudes revealed in this history book for young readers may be somewhat objectionable to some, however, it is important to note that people are the product of the time and society in which they live. Adams is no different.

This is our history, and you cannot tell the truth with lies. Jean Fritz's book is both humorous and accurate. Let us never lose signt of the need for accuracy, despite our objections to what truth may be.

Peculiar Guy, But...
Who's Sam Adams that someone would write a book about him?Well, he's the guy that pretty much started the Revolutionary War.How could a shabbily dressed fellow who refused to ride a horse (EVERYBODY who was ANYBODY rode a horse) start a war between England (the mother country) and us?There's only one way to find out: R E A D.

A Non-Workbook, Non-Textbook Approach to Teaching Language Arts: Grades 4 Through 8 and Up

Why don't you get a horse, Sam Adams?
Fun Children's book!Kids will enjoy this book.

Revolutionary style
Fritz has the rare talent of making historical figures more than interesting.She makes them human.Immersing the usual boring caricatures of her subjects in the small true stories that she has discovered in their lives, she gives us an entirely different way of looking at our American heroes.In this book, her talent for storytelling has been expertly paired with Trina Schart Hyman's intricate and intriguing pencil drawings.Sam Adams suddenly becomes somebody you'd like to sit down and have a mug of Guinness with.Without a doubt he is boisterous and a bit of a braggart.But he's also a great man, and this book never looses sight of the fact that, though ridiculous at times, Adams did great things and deserves to be remembered for them.There is little debate that Fritz's books remain some of the best historical children's biographies today.I well remember her stories from when I was a child myself, though I half wish Hyman illustrated ALL her books.This book would be absolutely perfect to teach to children during Revolutionary War history classes.Pairing it with all of Fritz's books would also be an exceptionally bright idea.

I love this book!
Many years ago I did a report on Samuel Adams for school. This book by Jean Fritz helped me get a high grade. It did not give me the impression that people who are smarter should be excused from being a soldier or any other ideas. In fact I enjoyed it so much that to this day I love learning about the American Revolution, because Jean Fritz made learning fun for me. I suggest that everyone read it. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (25)

An amazing amount of American history never taught ....
in schools, not even for someone whose education years spanned from the 1950's to the end of the 1960's, before the worst of the Progressive rewrite of American history took hold. Today his name is pretty much only recognized as a brand of American ale, yet the author expanded in fair detail the influence of this unsung American Founder who cleared the path for our break from our mother country and the realization that America was a special place, worth fighting for, and reason enough for the Founders to say on paper that they "pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor" to severe their ties to England.

Too much
Don't buy this if it's for your kid's famous person report. It's too much to read and very complicated....

I like it
Let me say, I like it, so far. I just received it from Amazon. There are two current books on S. Adams. Based on the reviews I picked this one, and as I said, good so far. I have the softcover version. Although this book was very affordable, I am disappointed in the quality of the print. The typeface specifically is a slightly narrow serifed font, with what you would describe as "thicks" and "thins" of font design, which make the pages a little tiring to read. You might think this is being a little picky, but good readable typeface does contribute to the enjoyment of the read. I wonder if the hardcover had a better typeface and paper quality....

A must read
This book is a must read.The author is great. This is the forgotten hero of the revolution.Everyone should know his story. Some books paint a negative picture of this hero, but this author tells his story with honesty and in a page turning way. He reminds me of someone in todays media. You read it and see for your self. I recommend this book above all others of the founders.

Sam Adams was Much More than a Beer
Sam Adams was one of the principal architects of the American Revolution. Mark Puls, in this fine biography, helps to illuminate Adams's place in the founding of the American republic. More than anyone else of his era, Sam Adams understood how to organize direct resistance to the powers that be and to ensure its sustainment over long periods of time. Scratch the surface of virtually every confrontation between the British and American colonists in Massachusetts Bay colony and one would find the handwork of Samuel Adams. Sometimes he might be behind the scenes but as often as not he was leading men in the streets taking direct action. He was also a pamphleteer and rabble rouser par excellence, organizing the "Sons of Liberty" as a semi-military force to resist British actions and a voice of independence throughout all of the British colonies in the 1760s and 1770s.

"Samuel Adams: Father of the American Revolution" is a useful addition to the literature on the "Founding Fathers." While most reverence for members of this group is reserved for George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and others associated with the formation of a new government, Sam Adams role was equally important. He organized resistance groups and could turn out protestors, and later trained soldiers, virtually instantaneously in Massachusetts. An economic "ne'er do well," Sam Adams possessed none of the economic acumen of his second cousin John Adams. He preferred to carouse in bars, argue about politics, and manipulate the colonial system. Over time, he adopted a stark revolutionary perspective and he used his pen to whip others into a frenzy. He was equally good at propaganda with crowds--or were they mobs--as he organized for revolution first in Boston and then beyond. When the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord in 1775, and when the Declaration of Independence was passed by the Continental Congress in 1776 Sam Adams was there to persuade all in earshot and publication range of the virtues of revolution.

This is a generally acceptable biography of Samuel Adams. The author undertook basic but not in-depth research, and as a journalist with the "Detroit News" he crafts the story well. Puls draws memorable portraits of the actors and sets scenes well. No doubt about it, he tells a good story. But this narrative also leaves many questions unanswered that might have been explored by a specialist in the history of the revolutionary era. As only one example, a major source of controversy for many years has been the nature of the Sons of Liberty, Sam Adams's enforcers--was this a class issue of poor attacking the rich--and historians have been debating this subject for years. Carl Becker said it best a century ago: "The war was not about home rule, but about who would rule at home" (Carl Becker, "The History of Political Parties in the Province of New York, 1760-1776," Wisconsin, 1909). Was Sam Adams mobilizing the poor to take over, was he manipulating them for other purposes, was something else at work in the violence and vigilantism of the Sons of Liberty? While Mark Puls discusses the most well-known of the activities of the Sons of Liberty, he does not subsume the action of his narrative to investigate seriously the nature of the violence it wrought.

Puls does somewhat better when considering such things as the Samuel Adams-organized Committee of Correspondence in Massachusetts, formed in November 1772 to disseminate pro-revolutionary propaganda and to rally opposition to British rule. But here too there are many areas deserving of exploration that one will have to look to professional historians for illumination.

Even so, this is a generally good book that offers a modern gloss on the career of the leading propagandist of the American Revolution. ... Read more

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This is the story of Samuel Adams, American Patriot and a founding father of the new American nation. He wrote and spoke out about the unfair British taxes imposed upon the colonists and helped organize the Stamp Act. He instigated the Boston Tea Party - an act of rebellion by the Sons of Liberty that would lead directly to the Revolutionary War. He was a delegate at the First and Second Continental Congresses, and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Adams continued to lead the struggle for liberty until his death.In this book, the Adlers offer a compelling hero for young readers - a man passionate about freedom, and determined to make a difference. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Boston Tea Party
Samuel Adams ordered the boycott of British goods and that's how the Revolutionary War started. And there's beer in every home now. ... Read more

Product Description
This reproduction was printed from a digital file created at the Library of Congress as part of an extensive scanning effort started with a generous donation from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.The Library is pleased to offer much of its public domain holdings free of charge online and at a modest price in this printed format.Seeing these older volumes from our collections rediscovered by new generations of readers renews our own passion for books and scholarship. ... Read more

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This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: Houghton Mifflin in 1898 in 458 pages; Subjects: Politicians; United States; Biography & Autobiography / General; Biography & Autobiography / Historical; Biography & Autobiography / Political; History / United States / General; History / United States / Revolutionary Period (1775-1800); Political Science / Government / Local; ... Read more