Samuel Adams:  A Life

by Ira Stoll

 

A book review by Ralph Dady

March 2009

 

Samuel Adams:  A Life by Ira Stoll, published by the Free Press a division of Simon & Schuster, 2008.  The book is 270 pages of text, plus 35 of notes, 17 of bibliography, and 14 of detailed index.  It traces the life of Samuel Adams from being “Born a Rebel”, the lead up to and through the American Revolution, to the post revolutionary era and ending with the “Passing of the Patriarch”.  Mr. Stoll has provided valuable information, shedding light on a sometimes overlooked revolutionary hero of the United States. Considerable documentation supports this biography.  Still, Mr. Stoll’s Samuel Adams: A Life and its unstated thesis of religion being the driving force for Samuel Adams is not totally convincing.  This biography is incomplete and Mr. Stoll’s style, presentation, and lack of supporting material make comprehension of Mr. Adams and his role in the American Revolution difficult.

 

Though not specifically stated, it soon becomes apparent that Mr. Stoll’s thesis is that Samuel Adams was primarily motivated by his Christian religion in all of his activities, personal, civic, and revolutionary and that he believed that others should follow his lead as well.  In fact, the bulk of the text relates to the religious pronouncements and uses of religious views by Mr. Adams without actually exploring his personal religious views. 

 

The author well documents his sources and provides an excellent bibliography for future study.  They are used to support his unstated thesis but they do not support an overall biography of Samuel Adams as the text is purported to be.  The prodigious amount of work by Mr. Adams, the numerous committees he served upon, his importance in fomenting and supporting the Revolution and the acknowledgement by many leaders that he was the key person in the origin of the American Revolution are made clear by Mr. Stoll.  The reader will gain an understanding of the integral role played by Samuel Adams during the American Revolution.

 

However, the organization and content of Samuel Adams: A Life are incomplete.  The author expects the reader to either see the text as complete and informative, which it is not, or to have a comprehensive and expansive knowledge of the Revolutionary Period, including pre and post, which is unlikely for most readers.  A more descriptive title would be, The Political Use of Religion By Samuel Adams During the Revolutionary Period.  While this thesis would still be open for debate, this would have at least alerted the reader to the purpose of the text.   Or perhaps an even more accurate title would be, The Contemporary Political Use and Relevance of Samuel Adams’s Religious Views.  For the subject at hand, however, scant detail and context are provided.  For instance, The French and Indian or Seven Years’ War, which played a crucial role in the origins of the Revolution, gets a short three sentence paragraph while the coronation of King George III has three pages.  Whether the reader is expected to know about this war, or the author considers it irrelevant or that the reader should do independent research is unclear.  Mr. Stoll does cover the resulting British tax and debt issues and resulting colonial opposition, frequently led by Mr. Adams.  Little detail is given to the Revolutionary War itself or its effect on Boston.  It is difficult to understand the context of the events, conventions, declarations, and treaties to which Samuel Adams was a part without an understanding of these events.  Mr. Stoll should have included more background on key events.  In addition relevant maps would have enhanced the text, especially one of Boston where so many of the events took place.  Reference timelines would have helped the reader keep track of the key events of the Revolutionary Era.  A listing of the many committees that Samuel Adams served upon would reinforce knowledge of his political contributions.  Little in regard to the personal life of Mr. Adams, other then scant facts, is given leaving the reader without a vision of the whole man.

           

Relevant to a critique of this text Samuel Adams: A Life, is a discussion of the author and possible bias and other motives he may have in writing the text.  “About the Author”, at the end of the text says, “Ira Stoll is vice president and managing editor to The New York Sun,  which he helped found. A graduate of Harvard, where he was president of The Harvard Crimson, Stoll has been a consultant to the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, managing editor and Washington correspondent for the Forward, and a reporter for the Los Angeles Times.”  The book jacket also lists him as editor of Smartertimes.com and editor of the Jerusalem Post.  To understand Mr. Stoll we need to look as his previous work, keeping in mind that he is a journalist/newspaperman and editor not an historian.  The New York Sun began publication 4/16/2002 and stopped publication 9/30/2008. Describing the New York Sun "The New York Post — which we love — is a tabloid," says Stoll. "And the Wall Street Journal is a national business paper. So we saw an opening in the market here for an upscale, right-of-center broadsheet." [1]  The Sun's president and editor, Seth Lipsky, gives its views as "limited government, individual liberty, constitutional fundamentals, equality under the law, economic growth ... standards in literature and culture, education."[2]  Both Stoll and Lipsky came from the long established and respected The Jewish Daily Forward, they sought a more conservative platform and launched The New York Sun.  Never an economically viable newspaper The New York Sun had ties to the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and was largely supported by four wealthy individuals. [3]  It was consistently a strong voice for Israeli and neoconservative positions.  The New York Sun played a key role in leading the attack against professors Stephen Walt of Harvard and John Mearsheimer, of the University of Chicago, and their work titled "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy."[4]  From an article by Mr. Stoll criticizing Mr. Mearsheimer for blaming the Iraq War on Israel, "The Israel lobby was one of the principal driving forces behind the Iraq War, and in its absence we probably would not have had a war," said the University of Chicago professor, John Mearsheimer, at a forum organized by the London Review of Books.[5]  For countervailing positions and papers on this see, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy[6] and Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism: Cosmopolitan Reflections by David Hirsh, Goldsmiths College, University of London.[7] The issue of influence of “The Israeli Lobby” has recently been in the news in regard to the failed appointment of Charles Freemen as chairman of the National Intelligence Council.[8] [9]

           

Mr. Stoll hints at his method and motivation in the “Acknowledgments” at the end of the text. Remember Samuel Adams was a newspaperman as well.  Mr. Stoll alludes to this when in reference to his colleagues at The New York Sun, “Seth Lipsky, Thomas Tisch, Roger Hertog, Bruce Kovnar, Michael Steinhardt and the rest of the merry band” he says “They, like Samuel Adams, understand the uses of newspapers in wars for freedom.”[269] Mr. Stoll also cites advice and encouragement by Amity Shales: “A book is just a collection of facts.”[268]  Ms. Shales has written The Forgotten Man: A New History of  the Great Depression, which is critical of President Roosevelt’s economic policies and more recently has likewise been critical of President Obama’s economic policies. She is married to Mr. Lipsky.  Mr. Stoll seems to have taken to this view that “A book is just a collection of facts.”  However, there is an expectation that an historical work or biography will have a more comprehensive standard beyond being “just a collection of facts”.

 

Returning to Samuel Adams: A Life, Mr. Stoll finally gives his thesis in note 37 of the last chapter of the book, the note runs over two single spaced pages.  “Increasing numbers of scholars and writers have come to the conclusion that religion was indeed an important factor in the American Revolution.” and “Acknowledging the role that religion played in the Revolution is a necessary corrective to those who would deny it or have forgotten it.”  The first historian discussed in this note is Michael Novak, holder of the Jewett Chair in Religion and Public Philosophy at the American Enterprise Institute.   The AEI is a conservative think tank whose stated purpose is “to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism--limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and responsibility, vigilant and effective defense and foreign policies, political accountability, and open debate.”[10] Recall the AEI was also a backer of The New York Sun.

 

Mr. Stoll has written a book to reinforce the position that the American Revolution was a conservative revolution not a radical one, not a Marxist one or some other type.  Mr. Stoll is part of a group of neo-conservatives that interprets United States history from their political perspective. See Irving Kristol, The Neoconservative Persuasion.[11]  Mr. Stoll’s thesis is that the Revolution has much in common with the conservative movement of today and that they are rooted in the same values.  These are the same values given for the American Enterprise Institute and by Mr. Lipsky for The New York Sun.    Whether this is true or not is open for debate, but it is incumbent for the reader to know what the real debate is about and Mr. Stoll does not make that clear.