Watch This

I'm glad you mentioned this. I hadn't even heard about it but caught an episode while on the road last week and it was brilliant. Really great stuff.

It is a good show.

I am a huge John Adams fan.
I am a huge David McCullough fan.
I am a huge fan of the book "John Adams"

I am so not impressed with the HBO version of the book. I think my sister and I are alone in this. I am not disagreeing that it's beautifully filmed and that lots of effort went into recreating the time and place. But I am not a fan of the perspective.

For example, the first episode. I felt too much emphasis was placed on showing the bad side of the Sons of Liberty. If this was the only history lesson you were getting (and I know in places like this, it isn't) you would have come away feeling that the colonists who fought back against the Crown were nothing more than rabble. They graphically portrayed the tarring and feathering of the customs agent, which, to be sure was a terribly cruel thing to do to another person. They portrayed nearly everyone involved in the Boston Massacre as drunken vigilante bullies. With no clear references to how Bostonians of that time period suffered under a repressive government. Our grievences were downplayed to say the least.

Similarly, I find so far the portrayal of Admas himself to overemphasize his worst attributes. He appears to be utterly lost as a statesman. Again if this was your only exposure to Adams, you would be left wondering how he got elected or appointed to anything.

Adams is my favorite president so I may be a little overly sensitive.

Thanks for the Davidson shout-out, sir. That's my alma mater. I went to Detroit to see them play in the Sweet 16 and the Elite 8. I told Slab to tune in from Iraq. A really fun time. Just wish we could have beaten Kansas on gone to our first Final 4. Oh well. There's always next year.

The John Adams series on HBO is awesome. It is living history at its best. Kat and I just recently went to Williamsburg and James Town and it was just as good.
The cast is brilliant and the portrayal or George Washington is incredible as well as the rest of the cast. It is so cool to see History in action where there are just still paintings of such events from our past.
It is due to be on my shelf when it becomes available.

Check out these movies to:
National Geographic Lewis and Clark
Into the West
PBS: The war that made America
One mans Hero

Talk with you later Sir,
Gunny D