{"product_id":"friends-divided-john-adams-and-thomas-jefferson-9780735224711","title":"Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson","description":"\u003cp\u003eA New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017  A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2017  From the great historian of the American Revolution  New York Times-bestselling and Pulitzer-winning Gordon Wood  comes a majestic dual biography of two of Americas most enduringly fascinating figures  whose partnership helped birth a nation  and whose subsequent falling out did much to fix its course.  Thomas Jefferson and John Adams could scarcely have come from more different worlds  or been more different in temperament. Jefferson  the optimist with enough faith in the innate goodness of his fellow man to be democracys champion  was an aristocratic Southern slaveowner  while Adams  the overachiever from New Englands rising middling classes  painfully aware he was no aristocrat  was a skeptic about popular rule and a defender of a more elitist view of government. They worked closely in the crucible of revolution  crafting the Declaration of Independence and leading  with Franklin  the diplomatic effort that brought France into the fight. But ultimately  their profound differences would lead to a fundamental crisis  in their friendship and in the nation writ large  as they became the figureheads of two entirely new forces  the first American political parties. It was a bitter breach  lasting through the presidential administrations of both men  and beyond.  But late in life  something remarkable happened: these two men were nudged into reconciliation. What started as a grudging trickle of correspondence became a great flood  and a friendship was rekindled  over the course of hundreds of letters. In their final years they were the last surviving founding fathers and cherished their role in this mighty young republic as it approached the half century mark in 1826. At last  on the afternoon of July 4th  50 years to the day after the signing of the Declaration  Adams let out a sigh and said  \"At least Jefferson still lives.\" He died soon thereafter. In fact  a few hours earlier on that same day  far to the south in his home in Monticello  Jefferson died as well.  Arguably no relationship in this countrys history carries as much freight as that of John Adams of Massachusetts and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Gordon Wood has more than done justice to these entwined lives and their meaning; he has written a magnificent new addition to Americas collective story.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647569616949,"sku":"ByrdShop_0735224714","price":48.37,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780735224711.jpg?v=1781693358","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/friends-divided-john-adams-and-thomas-jefferson-9780735224711","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}