The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
by Stacy Schiff
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18:04
Walter Isaacson video interview with author plus illustrated slides
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Oct, 2022
Spoiler:
Stacy Schiff describes the difference in personality between Samuel Adams and his cousin John and how Samuel’s affinity for avoiding the spotlight led him to be remembered less than his fellow revolutionaries. PBS interviewer Walter Isaacson asks probing questions but lets Schiff give lengthy, detailed answers in explaining some of Adams’s most brilliant moments, impactful achievements, and his stance on slavery (he freed a slave sent to him by his mother-in-law as a wedding gift).
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MSNBC’s Mika leads roundtable interview of author with slides
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Mika Brzezinski assembles a roundtable of guest journalists for a quick chat with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stacy Schiff, who explains that the political climate of 2016 in the U.S. inspired her to go back to the country’s roots and write about its most underrated and forgotten revolutionary. She notes that Samuel Adams, unlike his cousin John, did not seek attention and burned many of his papers, which made the job of biographer all the more challenging.
58:45
Video presentation and discussion with slides and audience Q&A
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Dec, 2022
Spoiler:
In this video presentation for the New England Historic Genealogical Society, author Stacy Schiff reads from her book, presents illustrations from the revolutionary era, and talks history with NEHGS President Ryan J. Woods. She describes the Adams book as a natural offshoot of her biography of Ben Franklin, saying that the small part Adams played in that book made her want to know more about this revolutionary who tried to stay out of the spotlight.
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Other books by Stacy Schiff
Publications
The New York Times: The Rabble-Rouser Who ‘Wired a Continent for Rebellion’
The Wall Street Journal: ‘The Revolutionary’ Review: A Draft of Samuel Adams
The Washington Post: Should we celebrate Samuel Adams, or condemn him?
National Public Radio: Author reminds Americans that Samuel Adams was a revolutionary before he was a beer
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