This book is a must read for anyone who wants to know what went on in the minds and hearts of the founders of the nation as well as those who were not founders but lived at the time but were swept along with the incredible history that was being made back then. Too often, we think of our time as the most advanced, the most civilized and the most progressive. Not so, says David McCullough. In a well written book of over 500 pages, the author takes us back to those times as if we had time travel. From inside the life, thoughts and emotions of one of America’s senior founders, John Adams, we are given a window to the past like none other. As a reader, you’ll find that in many ways, the giants of our history were but ordinary men, full of conflicting emotions, petty jealousies, envy and poor habits. But in other ways, they were head and shoulders above most men who have ever lived. They had a vision for a new, free nation. The nation would embody what were then new concepts of the freedom and dignity of the individual, and a nation under God – not the King. It was built on their courage, fierce devotion to duty, tireless work, willingness to engage in personal sacrifice. The combination of apparent circumstances that occurred to allow the new nation to be born was either pure chance or the hand of God. McCullough leaves that determination up to the reader.