Painting With Words

I had read the book on John Adams and the accompanying HBO series after it came out on DVD. It was the first time I had read the book before seeing the film. No surprise that the book was better but it also was able to give a full picture of Adams' life. David McCullough does an amazing job of putting you into the shoes of Adams and his wife when you read the letters they wrote to each other. The same is true of his letters with Thomas Jefferson in the latter part of his life. McCullough talks about that in his book and how he gets into the mind of his subjects. He tries to retrace their steps, which is not difficult to do since he lives on the very ground they walked. He also understands why history is so remarkable and appealing and his books bring it to life. If you know someone who thinks history is boring then they need to read one of McCulloughs books.