“Graphic portraiture and an excellent study of our politics in the days of Adams, of the fortunes of the federal party and the attitude of its two hostile forces, represented by Adams and Hamilton.”
— A.L.A. Catalog 1926
“We have John Adams the man and patriot, in all his rugged honesty, full of courage in great emergencies when others fell away, pugnacious, wise, when his judgment was not clouded by passion, a statesman without tact, vain and conceited, yet always a patriot, possessing the traits found in most of the world’s great heroes, yet not reaching the stature of a hero. It is a truthful portrait.”
– Standard Catalog for Public Libraries: Biography Section (1927)