I am not a history buff by nature. Oh sure, put me in front of a classy costume drama — kings, queens, ruthless villains, ladies in gorgeous costumes and (of course) the obligatory hero — and you’ve got me. The excellent HBO miniseries John Adams has some of these attributes, and perhaps most of them, but usually those great historical costume dramas do not send me flocking to the bookstore in quest of American revolutionary history. Surprisingly, this one did.
Based on David McCullough's Pulitzer-Prize winning biography of John Adams (which received huge bump in sales after the seven-part miniseries aired on HBO this spring), and produced by Tom Hanks, John Adams humanizes the larger-than-life historical figures who created a nation and changed the world, and it does it with style, charm, and splendid energy.
Directed by Emmy Award-winning Tom Hooper (Elizabeth I), John Adams stars Paul Giamatti (The Illusionist, Sideways) and Laura Linney (Breach, Love Actually) as John and Abigail Adams. The series spans the time from the late Colonial days and the Revolution through Adams’ death during the Presidency of his son John Quincy Adams.
The story is as much about family as it is about history and the birth of a nation. The heroes of the revolution are matched by the heroism of Abigail, who holds her family together during Adams’ long absences, and serves as a calming and wise advisor to her husband. Theirs is a marriage of equals during a time when women were considered as much property as slaves. (Adams did not own slaves and found the practice abhorrent.)
John Adams also explores the deep and complex relationship between Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who were both friends and political rivals. Their political and ideological differences eventually estranged them until the final days of their lives, when they reconnected through a mutual correspondence (ironically on July 4, 1801 - the 25th anniversary of the nation’s birth.)
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