Samuel Adams: America's Revolutionary Politician

American Profiles

by John K. Alexander

Samuel 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.

Hardcover

First published April 9, 2002

Reviews

[Lee Harrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is highly unlikely that a person could read any more than 100 pages of a Revolutionary War narrative and not encounter Samuel Adams. Less renowned perhaps than his cousin John, Samuel was nevertheless the engine which drove the Revolution forward from a vague idea to a reality.
The son of a businessman, Samuel had neither the head nor the heart for business. He failed at every employment he undertook in life except the one which never paid the bills in those days: politics. He was one of the founding members of the Sons of Liberty and began advocating or independence long before most other colonial politicians came around to it. He fought tirelessly for the cause even though it never helped him to support his home and family.
If Boston was the tinderbox which ignited the Revolution, Adams was the match. We need to pay better tribute to the man than just putting his image on beer bottles.