Publishers Weekly
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Historian and novelist Groom (The Allies) delivers an entertaining group portrait of founding fathers Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams and their disputes over how to balance federal and state power in the American system of government. Groom’s colorful and evenhanded presentation highlights Adams’s irritability and intelligence, Hamilton’s idealistic streak and tendency toward pomposity, and Jefferson’s habit of envisioning himself as a man of the people, despite his erudition and taste for “elegant objects.” Though Groom documents their widely divergent backgrounds (Hamilton was a Caribbean immigrant born out of wedlock; Jefferson was an aristocratic Southerner; Adams was descended from the Puritans) and fierce disagreements (Hamilton’s pamphlet attacking John Adams may have contributed to Jefferson taking the presidency from Adams in 1801), he pays particular attention to their fierce commitment to the good of the nation. Though readers well-versed in American history won’t learn a great deal new, Groom spins his familiar tale with aplomb. This solid history reveals that the art of compromise is an essential ingredient in American democracy. (Nov.)

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The late novelist and popular historian revisits the Revolutionary era. Groom (1943-2020) has fashioned another broad historical chronicle for a general readership, presenting parallel biographies of the three Founding Fathers who were integral to the creation of the American republican government—when no one could be sure it was going to take. As he has demonstrated in his many books of history and fiction, the author is a natural storyteller, choosing relevant engrossing details about each character amid the myriad historical detail. His account of Alexander Hamilton's early life story, which opens the book, proves most compelling. Unlike John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who were favored sons from wealthy, well-regarded families, Hamilton was born "out of wedlock" in the Caribbean, and his mother died when he and his brother were teenagers, leaving them “for all intents and purposes…orphans.” Groom shows how Hamilton’s intelligence and alacrity—not to mention some luck—gained him powerful protectors and mentors early on. After arrival in the U.S., he received a first-class education and apprenticed with Gen. George Washington, and his fierce sense of honor, writes the author, “became a major feature of his character.” By Groom’s account, Adams comes across as the least personally appealing of the three despite his intellectual abilities. However, his sense of loyalty to country and family emerges beautifully in selections from voluminous letters to his beloved wife, Abigail. Jefferson's story will be the most familiar to readers, and Groom adds little to the record. But the author effectively demonstrates how their battles with one another drove them forward and honed their political ideologies—yet never derailed them from their determination to forge the American nation when the prospects did not look promising. A useful selection for libraries because it imparts a solid civics lesson within an engaging historical narrative. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

In this triple biography from historian and novelist Groom (The Allies, 2018), who passed away in September, readers follow the lives of John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson. Each of these American Revolutionary giants has been the subject of comprehensive biographies in recent years, but Groom interweaves these men’s careers, showing how together they created a structure of consequential influence on a nation’s character. Adams, the dour New England Puritan, found the more cosmopolitan Jefferson much too aristocratic and fond of European cultural tradition. Hamilton, eager to fashion America as a capitalist stronghold and mercantile power, had different sympathies. The domestic lives of each similarly reflected these divergent personalities. These gentlemen did not always see eye to eye politically and often turned vituperative in their dealings with one another, but even in their mutual excoriations they never demonized one another and respectfully never doubted each other’s integrity and fundamental honesty. Groom may be dealing with oft-told stories, but he tells them in refreshingly candid style, as would be expected from the author of Forrest Gump.