Samuel Adams

A Life

By: Ira Stoll

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

"I pity Mr. Sam Adams," his cousin John Adams wrote to his wife, "for he was born a Rebel." At virtually every juncture of the American Revolution, from the Boston Massacre and Tea Party to Lexington and Concord and the ratification of the Constitution, Samuel Adams played a forceful role. With his fiery rhetoric and religious fervor, he was in many respects the moral conscience of the new nation. "The love of liberty," he thundered, "is interwoven in the soul of man, and can never be totally extinguished."

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 Tantor

Average to good

Where does Samuel Adams rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very informative, but i had a hard to staying with it, kind of dry. I usually listen to these as I sleep, this one, was average.

A principles-based biography of our first Founding Father

Insightful biography of Samuel Adams the man, with his moral principles and religious beliefs that shaped the American Revolution and the founding of our country.

Fact filled book

An educated view of the man and I felt a lot of information shoved in this long
audio book.

A must for any American citizen!

Outstanding! The overlooked founding father who without his steadfastness the revolution may have never taken place.

informative and well read

Not a lot is known about this great man. glad i got to listen about the man who basically made the united states of america happen