Stacy Schiff on "The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams"

-- Stacy Schiff discusses her new biography on Samuel Adams’ essential contributions to the American Revolution. --
Recorded 28 October 2022 at Massachusetts Historical Society
Despite his celebrated status among America’s founding fathers as a revolutionary leader, Samuel Adams’ life and achievements have been largely overshadowed in history books. In The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams, Stacy Schiff brings her masterful history research and storytelling skills to the life of Samuel Adams, examining his transformation from the listless, failing son of a wealthy family into the tireless, silver-tongued revolutionary who rallied the likes of John Hancock and John Adams behind him. Gripping and revelatory, this book is a long-overdue chapter in the history of the American Revolution.
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[@kurts4867]

Samuel Adams is my fave Founding Father. Dissident . Rabble rouser . Bad-ass

[@sbkarajan]

I am surprised and disappointed that there was no mention of Sons of Liberty and Freemason in Samuel Adams discussion. Are they also missing in the book as well? Are these topics forbidden to discuss?

[@frandsenphilip1]

Both the Sons of Liberty (more extensively) and Freemasonary (in passing) are in the book.

[@susanjanestack8251]

I am reading Stacy Schiff’s book The Revolutionary Samuel Adams. I find it very interesting. The research is excellent but I’d love to know who she’s trying to impress. Certainly not ordinary readers like me. Her language is excessively arrogant, i.e., “roseate” instead of “rosy” or “complotters” instead of “conspirators” or the sentence on page 110 where she uses “refracting” to basically mean oppositional as is in “bad behavior begets bad behavior”. While I understood these references and words I found the use of them to be unnecessary and frankly arrogant. I don’t find that kind of language in Jon Meacham’s books or Doris Kearn’s Goodwin’s books.

[@pauldoyle9068]

Sounds like you’re condescending her condescension.

[@frandsenphilip1]

I agree to some degree: for example, I had to look up what the word "captious" meant - Chapter VII entitled "Perhaps I am Captious". Then again, I like learning words I've never encountered before.