John Adams and the American Revolution

699 pp. 8 1/2 x 5 7/8. Map illustrated endpapers. "In this highly praised biography of the formative years of the America's second president, Mrs. Bowen portrays John Adams within the context of colonial America and examines the momentous events that forged a new nation and the character of our second president. This is an old-fashioned biography, beautifully written, passionately interested in its subject. Mrs. Bowen's primary aim is to convey the temper of mind and intellectual curiosity of a man who many consider the most brilliant individual to have ever held the high office of the presidency." ABOUT THE AUTHOR: "Catherine Drinker Bowen (January 1, 1897 in Haverford, PA – November 1, 1973 in Haverford) was born as Catherine Drinker on the Haverford College campus on January 1, 1897, to a prominent Quaker family. She was an accomplished violinist who studied for a musical career at the Peabody Institute and the Juilliard School of Music, but ultimately decided to become a writer. She had no formal writing education and no academic career, but became a bestselling American biographer and writer despite criticism from academics. Her earliest biographies were about musicians. Bowen did all her own research, without hiring research assistants, and sometimes took the controversial step of interviewing subjects without taking notes. In 1958, she won the National Book Award in nonfiction for The Lion and the Throne: The Life and Times of Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634), a biography of the prominent lawyer of Elizabethan England. In addition, Ms. Bowen received the 1957 Philadelphia Award and the 1962 Women's National Book Association award. Her last book, Family Portrait, received critical acclaim, and was a Literary Guild selection. During her lifetime, she was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Philadelphia Award. At the time of her death in 1973, she was working on a biography of Benjamin Franklin, which was published posthumously. Catherine married Ezra Bowen, Chair of Economics at Lehigh University and author of "Social Economics." Survived by her son, Ezra Bowen (died Westport, CT, 1996), Sports Illustrated and Time-Life writer and editor; grandson, Ezra D. Bowen, and now great-grandchildren, Leslie R. Bowen and Elizabeth D. Bowen. She is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania." "John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American politician and political philosopher and the second President of the United States (1797–1801), after being the first Vice President of the United States (1789–1797) for two terms. He was one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the United States."